Kipas Textiles, Europe’s largest fully integrated textile manufacturer, has launched fibR-e, a new recycling platform designed to overcome long-standing barriers to true polyester circularity.

The fashion industry produces millions of tonnes of polyester-based garments each year, yet only a small fraction is currently recycled. At the same time, tightening regulations across Europe and other regions are requiring brands to take responsibility for the full lifecycle of their products, while consumers are increasingly demanding greater transparency and sustainability.

FibR-e has been developed to offer brands a credible commercial solution. At its facility in Adana, Turkey, specialist partner Meltem Kimya converts post-consumer garments containing 70% or more polyester, including polyester-elastane and other mixed-fibre blends. Items can be processed with trims still attached and in mixed colours, producing high-quality, GRS-certified rTEX chips. These are then transformed by Kipas Textiles into certified filament yarns and staple fibres suitable for new collections.

The platform eliminates the need for extensive manual sorting by removing accessories during processing, reducing labour requirements and production bottlenecks. It also decolourises blended fabrics to deliver cleaner outputs. Central to the system is a patented molecular recycling technology developed by Meltem Kimya, which breaks polyester down to its basic components and rebuilds it without creating microplastics. This allows the material to be recycled repeatedly without loss of quality.

Early analysis indicates that producing polyester entirely from textile waste through fibR-e can reduce emissions by almost 74% compared with virgin polyester production.

“Recycling has barely scratched the surface of the polyester problem,” says Kipas CEO Halit Gümüser. “With fibR-e, we can take real post-consumer waste in all its complexity and return it to the market as certified, high-quality filament yarns and staple fibres. This is how the industry moves from linear to circular, not through pilots but through commercial scale.”

FibR-e is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Kipas and specialist partners, with Meltem Kimya providing the molecular recycling expertise underpinning the platform. As a global yarn and fabric producer, Kipas will feed fibR-e materials directly into its own supply chain, enabling bulk production at competitive prices. The outputs are fully traceable, performance-tested and designed to meet commercial quality standards while helping brands reduce their reliance on virgin materials and prepare for stricter regulatory requirements.

www.kipastextiles.com