Inditex signs three-year deal to buy recycled polyester for more than 500 million

News on October 25, Inditex signed a three-year agreement to purchase textile-to-textile recycled polyester cycora® (a post-industrial and post-consumer recycled polyester) for more than 70 million euros. Innovative materials made from polyester waste) account for a large portion of the annual production. The purchase commitment with Ambercycle, the startup behind the fiber, is key to scaling up the material through the construction of its first commercial facility. Nowadays, Zara
Athleticz has launched a capsule collection of technical apparel made from up to 50% of this innovative material.

Zara Athleticz x cycora® joint series

The large-scale application of Ambercycle’s innovative molecular regeneration technology will make circular materials more widely available and available in the fashion supply chain. Ambercycle’s new commercial factory is expected to begin producing cycora® around 2025, with continued incorporation into Inditex products over the next three years.

Inditex aims to have 100% of its textiles made entirely from materials with a lower environmental impact by 2030. As part of this commitment, the Group expects that 25% of its textile fibers will be made from next-generation materials that have not yet reached industrial scale. Cycora® is a recycled polyester made from end-of-life textiles that provides a seamless alternative to conventional polyester.

As part of the agreement, Zara
Athleticz will also launch its first-ever capsule collection today in partnership with Ambercycle, featuring technical pieces made with up to 50% cycora® content. It exemplifies the huge potential of innovative materials to create functional, stylish products while having a smaller impact on the environment. The series will be
Provided by Zara.com.

“Ambercycle’s goal is to achieve circularity by replacing virgin polyester with textile-for-textile regenerated cycora®. Our partnership with Inditex represents a giant leap forward for the fashion industry to achieve circularity at scale,” Shay, CEO of Ambercycle
Sethi said.

Javier, chief sustainability officer at Inditex
Losada added: “At Inditex, we are committed to making the fashion industry circular. We want to drive innovation and scale new solutions, processes and materials to enable textile-to-textile recycling. Ambercycle’s breakthrough molecular regeneration technology will transform end-of-life textiles Transformed into new materials, effectively reducing waste and emissions in the production cycle.”

Inditex Sustainability Innovation Center

The collaboration is part of the Inditex Sustainability Innovation Center, an innovation platform that works with start-ups, academic institutions and technology centers to promote and scale new materials, technologies and processes to reduce the environmental impact of fashion products, and help enable more sustainable and circular solutions.

The Inditex Sustainability Innovation Center aims to minimize the environmental impact of raw materials and processes used in the textile industry. In addition to an environmental life cycle analysis, the impact of each new proposal on social aspects, circularity, biodiversity and animal welfare is also considered. The analysis was conducted in laboratory tests and included areas such as emissions, water and land use
16 different effects. All of this helps ensure that these innovations have the potential to have a lower environmental impact compared to existing alternatives.

About Ambercycle

Ambercycle is powering circularity in fashion. The Los Angeles-based company was founded in 2015
is revolutionizing the fashion industry with its award-winning molecular regeneration technology. Cycora® recycled polyester is the company’s first premium material solution made from end-of-life textiles. Driven by a vision to improve humans’ relationship with materials, Ambercycle
is minimizing the environmental impact of raw material extraction and paving the way for the decarbonization of fashion.