Textile Exchange projects 3-5 million tonnes of textile-to-textile recycled fibre supply by 2030

On 6 October 2026, Textile Exchange published “Textile-to-Textile Recycled Fiber Availability Data for Apparel and Home Textiles”, a report assessing the current and future availability of textile-to-textile recycled fibres for apparel and home textiles. Developed with Fashion for Good, Reverse Resources and TEXroad, the report brings together previously fragmented data on textile waste and recycling capacity. Textile Exchange describes it as the first global approach to this assessment.

According to the report, the volume of recycled spinnable fibre could rise from an estimated 1-1.5 million tonnes in 2025 to 3-5 million tonnes in 2030. This growth is driven primarily by large-scale expansion plans from a small number of polyester recyclers. Over the same period, recyclable textile feedstocks are projected to grow from around 10 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes.

The gap between feedstock and fibre volumes shows that only a portion of available feedstock can become recycled fibre, as collection, sorting, processing and technology constraints limit how much can be produced. Even under these growth scenarios, the report projects that textile-to-textile recycled fibres will represent only a modest share of total fibre demand in apparel and home textiles by 2030.

The study covers post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste, mechanically and chemically recycled fibres, and cotton, polyester, nylon, manmade cellulosic fibres, wool and their blends. Non-textile feedstocks such as leather, down and plastic bottles were excluded, as were technical textiles.

Textile Exchange presents the findings as an initial, directional view based on the best available data, with conservative assumptions intentionally applied where data was limited. The organisation plans to refine the model as more data becomes available from recyclers and suppliers, and intends to integrate the work into its annual Materials Market Report.