Allbirds, H&M and Zara use recycled yarns from this Virginia startup that's backed by Patagonia

Fast fashion is a major environmental offender, requiring massive water consumption, and producing high carbon emissions and pollution. It also leads to a surge in microplastic and textile waste.One result has been a boom in thrifting. But recycling old clothing into new items presents a much bigger challenge. The fashion industry accounts for anywhere from 4% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to various sources, yet less than 1% of clothing is recycled into new garments. That's because most fabrics today are blends and need to be broken down into their original fibers in order to be remade. One Virginia-based startup is taking a shot at fixing the problem, with the aim of turning fashion into a circular economy. Circ, founded in 2011, developed technology that separates polycotton material into its original components, and regenerates them into new, virgin quality materials. Previous attempts to do that have destroyed one fiber or the other. "It's a chemical process," said Circ CEO Peter Majeranowski. "It's very much like unbaking a cake, where we break down the polyester to its building blocks, separate it from the cotton and put them back into the very beginning of the supply chain to be remade into new clothes,"Polyester and cotton make up about 77% of the global textile market. Circ's hydrothermal technology can recycle each fiber, as well as any blend ratio of the two, known as polycotton blends."We work with material that can't be thrifted, can't be repaired or resold," Majeranowski said. "It's really heading to the landfill or incineration."Circ gets the old clothing from various sources, either purchased or donated. After breaking down the fibers, it then sells them back into the clothing supply chain to yarn spinners, dye houses and fabric manufacturers. Allbirds, Zara and H&M use Circ-recycled textiles in some of their products. There's a small price premium, but it's an attractive option for environmentally minded brands like Patagonia, which is also an investor in Circ."To go after a really important feedstock, like cotton poly blend…is always at the top of the heap for our decision making," said Matthew Dwyer, vice president of global product footprint at Patagonia. As for the higher price, Dwyer said that's to be expected with any innovation that needs to scale to a major market. "For us, it's not just about getting to market, it's about ensuring that our partners are set up to scale from there, because there's no use and there's no business saving the planet if you're just building concept cars," he said.Circ has raised a total of $100 million from Patagonia along with Temasek, Taranis, Marubeni, Inditex and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.The startup is headquartered in Danville, Virginia which used to be home to the largest textile mill in the U.S. It's now expanding globally, with its first industrial-sized textile-to-textile recycling plant in France.