Vargas Holding and H&M Group have announced the launch of their initiative, Syre, to revolutionise the textile industry by recycling polyester on a massive scale.
Syre plans to establish global production plants for circular polyester. Syre will offer textile-to-textile circular polyester (cPET), with oil-based virgin polyester quality and “superior” sustainability, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 85 per cent.
H&M Group’s offtake agreement
Besides the launch, H&M Group has inked a seven-year offtake agreement with Syre, totalling $600M (approximately €548.46M). This deal secures a significant portion of H&M Group’s future demand for recycled polyester, predominantly sourced from bottle-to-fiber (rPET) processes.
Daniel Erver, CEO of H&M Group, says, “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.”
TPG Rise Climate joins as a founding investor
Syre has received “substantial investment” support from TPG Rise Climate, the climate investing arm of global asset manager TPG.
TPG Rise Climate joins as a founding investor, contributing investment and expertise in scaling climate solutions and circular economy-focused companies globally.
TPG Rise Climate is TPG’s dedicated climate investing strategy within its $19B global impact investing platform. Led by Jim Coulter and Executive Chairman Hank Paulson, the fund invests from growth equity to value-added infrastructure and focuses on climate solutions in areas such as clean electrons, clean molecules and materials, and negative emissions.
Driving the textile industry towards sustainability
According to a press release by Vargas, textile waste is a global issue, with less than 1 per cent of fibers coming from recycled textiles. The industry contributes 7-10 per cent of global CO2 emissions, mainly from polyester.
Virgin polyester and recycled polyester (rPET) are linear processes, leading to the majority of their end-of-life products being sent to landfills or incinerated. With new regulations, such as those in the EU, there’s a push for circular materials to address the environmental impact.
This is where Syre looks to make a difference. Syre is a textile impact company focused on hyperscale textile-to-textile recycling, starting with polyester.
The company was founded in 2023 by fashion and design company H&M Group and Vargas Holding, a firm that claims to have built impact companies such as Northvolt, H2 Green Steel and Aira.
Syre explains that its name, translating to oxygen in Swedish, symbolises continuous recycling. It combines “sy” (Swedish for sewing) and “re” (Latin for over and over again), reflecting the commitment to sustainable practices in textile production.
The company’s solution delivers circular polyester with quality matching virgin polyester but surpasses sustainability.
Susanna Campbell, Chair of the board and co-founder of Syre, says, “Having been creating and scaling companies that enable the green transition for an entire industry, I am extremely excited to be part of founding Syre.”
“As a plug-and-play solution into the existing textile value chain, Syre will be key in enabling delivery of ambitious sustainability targets for all polyester intense industries such as apparel, automotive, and home interior.”
The first plant in North Carolina will be operational in 2024, paving the way for global expansion in Asia and Europe.
Syre aims to establish 12 gigascale plants worldwide within a decade, producing over 3 million metric tons of circular polyester. The platform has the potential to expand into other fibres and technologies.
The company is also urging collaboration and partnerships across industries and the entire value chain to collectively lead the textile shift and foster a healthy future for textiles.
Dennis Nobelius, CEO of Syre, adds, “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.”
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