Virginia-based textile-to-textile innovator Circ is scaling up with the help of a new offshore partner.
The Danville operation—which touts a proprietary chemical process that reclaims polyester and cellulose from discarded poly-cotton blended textiles—announced a new investment from Drive Catalyst, the venture capital division of Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group, a leading virgin and recycled polyester producer.
More from Sourcing Journal
-
Material World: This Sneaker From Purified and NFW Is Designed to Be Buried
-
Material World: Beyond Leather Materials Leaps Forward, Mycocycle Raises $3.6M
-
Mud Jeans Seeks Investors to Scale Production, Retail Footprint
According to Circ, the undisclosed investment, as well as the Asian manufacturer’s capacity for large-scale production, will propel the creation and reach of Circ Polyester. Far Eastern’s support will help Circ address the growing pains that come with commercializing next-generation materials to meet the demands of larger fashion brands. The announcement comes nearly a year after Circ announced a partnership with Acegreen Eco-Material Technology Co. to offtake its cellulose content for use in lyocell production.
“It is crucial that leaders in the polyester supply chain, like ourselves, set an example by establishing a foundation for collaborative models,” Juliana Pidner Hsu, managing director of Drive Catalyst, said this week.
Hsu added that Far Eastern’s investment arm is committed to advancing the circular economy and feels textile-to-textile recycling will play a pivotal role in decarbonizing the raw material supply chain. “Our dedication to supporting innovative solutions aligns with our customers’ strong demand for sustainable fashion,” she said.
“To drive significant systemic changes may take time and require collaboration. With Circ‘s high-quality materials and the growth potential of its technology, we believe this partnership is a meaningful step towards scaling circularity,” Hsu added.
Far Eastern will integrate the recovered monomers—the building blocks of polyester—into its existing production infrastructure. It’s important “to build out the supply chain in such a way that these materials can flow naturally, so you’re not disrupting the system from that regard—you’re disrupting it only in replacing oil with recycled materials,” Luke Henning, Circ’s chief business officer, told Sourcing Journal.
“The monomers that we’re producing, when they repolymerize them, they would use a standard process to do that,” he said. “They may be using some of their batch assets versus their continuous assets for scale in the beginning, but these are equipment they already have.”