RE&UP’s Next-Gen Cotton powers Zalando’s latest private label collection

When it comes to scaling circular fashion, moving from small-scale pilots to real-world commercial production is the hardest step. That is what makes our recent collaboration with European fashion platform Zalando a noteworthy milestone. 

Launching this September across Zalando’s private labels, YOURTURN and Even&Odd, a five-piece t-shirt collection features fabric spun with 20% RE&UP Next-Gen Cotton blended with 80% organic cotton. 

While a focused collection in volume, its implications for the supply chain are significant as this marks the first time RE&UP’s textile-to-textile recycled fibers have been integrated into Zalando’s private label assortment. 

Essential everyday garments like classic cotton t-shirts demand high standards of softness, durability, and fabric consistency. Proving that recycled fiber can perform seamlessly in basic wardrobe pieces is critical to building industry trust. 

To create the fibers powering this collection, RE&UP transformed pre- and post-consumer textile waste through an advanced process of automated sorting, deconstruction, and decolorization. The resulting Next-Gen Cotton delivers the technical performance, strength, and traceability required by major commercial brands without demanding trade-offs on quality. 

“The real measure of circularity is whether it can work in everyday products, at commercial scale. Our collaboration with Zalando is an important example of that transition: bringing textile-to-textile recycled cotton into mainstream collections without compromising the performance expected from the product. This is how circularity moves from ambition to infrastructure – through scalable technology, reliable materials and brands willing to integrate them into their core business.”

Ebru Özküçük Güler
Chief Sustainability Officer, RE&UP

For circular fashion to become the norm, recycled materials must move beyond limited runway concepts and enter mainstream supply chains. This capsule represents an important step forward, proving that when high-quality fiber engineering meets industrial scale, sustainable fashion transitions from a future goal to everyday wear. 

To learn more about how RE&UP’s Next-Gen Cotton and Polyester enable commercial-scale recycling, explore our product page.

Check out the capsule collection

• Even&Odd by Zalando Brown Print T-shirt
• Even&Odd by Zalando White Print T-shirt
• YOURTURN by Zalando Black Print T-shirt
• YOURTURN by Zalando Sand Print T-shirt