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The co-founded venture, also backed by TPG Rise Climate, aims to rapidly scale textile-to-textile recycling of polyester and contribute to a more sustainable textile industry. H&M Group has secured an offtake agreement with Syre worth a total of US$ 600 million over seven years, covering a significant share of H&M Group’s long-term need for recycled polyester, which is currently primarily sourced from rPET bottle-to-textile.

Says Daniel Ervér, CEO of H&M Group: “The new venture Syre is an important next step on H&M Group’s journey to integrate circularity across our business. With this solution to rapidly scale textile-to-textile recycling, we want to continue to drive and inspire more industry players to join us in closing the loop and accelerating the shift towards a more sustainable future.”

H&M Group’s overarching material ambition is to have 100% of materials to be either recycled or sourced in a more sustainable way by 2030, with the subgoal of 30% recycled materials by 2025. As the company is moving closer to achieving the target of 30% recycled materials by 2025, the ambition is to now aim for 50% recycled by 2030.

Syre is building a production plant in North Carolina, United States, with the intention of being operational during 2024. From there, the manufacturing process and technology will be scaled up for global expansion. Within ten years, Syre aspires to have twelve plants up and running at full speed and capacity across the globe, producing more than three million metric tons of recycled polyester.

Says Dennis Nobelius, CEO of Syre: “Syre marks the start of the great textile shift. We envision a world where every textile fibre sees a new day. By implementing true textile-to-textile recycling at hyperscale, we want to drive the transition from a linear to a circular value chain by putting textile waste to use, over and over again.”