H&M Group establishes joint venture to drive used textile sorting

H&M Group has announced a new joint venture with Remondis through the launch of a circular textile initiative, Looper Textile Co.

The duo will own equal parts of the organisation, with H&M hoping to participate “more directly” in the development of circular fashion infrastructure, a press release stated.

Meanwhile, the launch further builds on Remondis’ already established efforts in this area, adding to its waste management capabilities and linking to its knowledge of scaleable sorting solutions.

Looper’s mission will be to collect, sort and sell used and unwanted garments and textiles, each split into specific category streams, in a bid to extend the use of valuable resources.

Its goal is to become a preferred feedstock provider to companies looking to utilise textile resale and recycling.

Operations will begin in Europe, where it will work towards extending the highest use of approximately 40 million garments during 2023.

Further innovations Looper plans to integrate is that of testing new collection schemes, implementing automated sorting technologies and developing an assortment of relevant partners to work alongside.

Speaking on the launch, Emily Bolon, CEO of Looper, said: “Today, less than 40 percent of used clothes are collected in the EU. Consequently, 60 percent of post-consumer textiles go directly to waste.

“By building infrastructure and solutions for collection and sorting, we hope to move one step closer toward enabling circularity, thereby minimising the CO2-impact and improving resource efficiency.”