RE&UP’s Next-Gen Cotton Fibers Used in Zalando Private Label T-Shirt Collection

Zalando introduces five T-shirts featuring 20% textile-to-textile recycled fiber from RE&UP

RE&UP Recycling Technologies’ Next-Gen Cotton has been incorporated into a new T-shirt collection from Zalando’s private labels, bringing textile-to-textile recycled fibers into commercial fashion production.

The collection launched on Zalando in August and includes five T-shirts under YOURTURN by Zalando and Even&Odd by Zalando. The garments use a circular-knit fabric made with 80% organic cotton and 20% RE&UP Next-Gen Cotton, a textile-to-textile recycled fiber produced from textile waste. The collection marks the first use of RE&UP’s recycled fibers in Zalando’s private label assortment.

Moving Textile Recycling Towards Commercial Scale

The collaboration focuses on the application of textile-to-textile recycling beyond pilot projects and into commercial production. RE&UP’s process is designed to convert pre- and post-consumer textile waste through sorting, deconstruction and decolorization.

The resulting recycled materials are developed to meet the technical, performance and traceability requirements associated with commercial textile production.

“Industrial-scale circularity is no longer aspirational but operational,” said Özgür Atsan, Chief Commercial Officer of RE&UP. “Through collaborations like this, brands can move from pilot projects to repeatable, scalable production with confidence.”

20% Recycled Fiber Blend Enters Zalando’s Private Labels

The T-shirt range was developed using a 20% Next-Gen Cotton blend while maintaining Zalando’s quality requirements for its private label products.

“Zalando's Private Label brands are where entry price points, quality and new materials come together for our customers. With RE&UP we've built a commercial t-shirt range using a 20% Next-Gen Cotton blend that meets our strict quality standards — the exact test any next-gen material has to pass before we scale it.” said Frederic Teufel, Commercial Director Private Labels at Zalando.

The collection provides a commercial application for recycled textile fibers within Zalando’s private label assortment, demonstrating how textile-to-textile recycled materials can be incorporated into finished apparel.

Scaling Textile-to-Textile Recycling

RE&UP’s involvement in the collection reflects the company’s focus on providing infrastructure for textile-to-textile recycling at commercial scale. Its proprietary process handles both pre- and post-consumer textile waste and produces recycled materials intended for use in textile production.

The collaboration brings together recycled fibers, traceability and commercial production capacity as the fashion industry continues to develop textile-to-textile recycling applications.