Recover becomes a major supplier of recycled cotton to H&M

Spanish company Recover is taking a giant step in scaling its operations and business model. The company has just announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with Swedish fashion group H&M. Under this agreement, Recover will supply H&M on a large scale with its recycled cotton fibers, sold under the ‘RCotton’ brand.

As the management of the company, which specializes in textile-to-textile recycling, announced, Recover has formalized a multi-year partnership with H&M. This enables the integration of its recycled cotton fibers ‘RCotton’ into the Swedish fashion group’s collections. The companies have been working together on product development since the beginning of 2024. This initial cooperation paved the way for the formalization of this agreement. It will now enable the commercial and large-scale introduction of Recover’s mechanically recycled cotton into H&M’s collections.

“We are proud to enter into this partnership with H&M Group,” said Anders Sjöblom, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Recover. “Reliable access to recycled fibers at scale, with full traceability and quality credentials like we offer at Recover, is critical to transforming the industry. Our collaboration shows how innovators and leading global brands can work together to make circular fashion accessible to all.”

Recover was founded as an independent company in 2020. It was created from the spin-off of the Recover brand from the Valencian textile company Hilaturas Ferre. Recover is currently in a dynamic process of growth and international expansion.

For this phase, the company has already received support from investors such as Story3 Capital and Goldman Sachs. The main goal is to scale the textile recycling and reuse experience to a global level.

As a result of this expansion strategy, Recover currently has five recycling centers. These are located at the most important nodes of the textile production chains in Europe, Asia and America. The company already operates centers in Banyeres de Mariola (Spain), the place of origin of the company, which today has its headquarters in Madrid. Other locations include Karachi (Pakistan); Narayangaj (Bangladesh); Nhơn Trạch (Vietnam) and Apopa (El Salvador).

Recover produces various fibers in these recycling plants. These include ‘Recover One’, a colorful blend of 100 percent recycled cotton and polyester fibers; ‘RDenim’, recycled cotton fibers from post-industrial, pre- and post-consumer denim waste; ‘RMix’, which combines recycled cotton fibers with up to 40 percent polyester and other fibers made from recycled textile waste; and ‘RCotton’.

‘RCotton’ is the circular raw material that Recover will supply to H&M as part of this partnership to be used as sustainable fibers in their collections. This material is made from 100 percent pure, unmixed and recycled cotton fibers. Its versatility allows it to be overdyed or combined with all other types of fibers. Garments, accessories or home textiles can be made from this, with the proportion of ‘RCotton’ fibers varying between ten and 50 percent depending on the case.

“At H&M Group, we want to decouple our business from resource consumption and resource extraction by keeping products and materials in circulation at their highest value,” says Ulf Krigsman, head of materials and components at H&M. “To increase the availability and accessibility of recycled and sustainably sourced materials, we are investing in, testing and scaling innovative solutions and infrastructure. Recover’s experience and proven ability to deliver recycled cotton at commercial scale make them a valuable partner on the path to our goal of using only recycled or sustainably sourced materials by 2030.”