From Pilot to Scale: Inside the Real Economics of Brand Sustainability Partnerships
In 2025, 'T2T' (textile-to-textile) recycling became the buzzword, and brands like Nike, PUMA, and Allbirds signed massive offtake agreements. But how many of these deals actually move beyond press releases? This article dissects the numbers: Nike’s Grind program has diverted over 147 million pounds of waste; China’s Zhejiang Jiren cracked the 10,000-ton chemical recycling line; lululemon locked in a 10-year enzyme-recycling contract. Yet technical bottlenecks, cost gaps, and verification hurdles remain. We map the real path from pilot to scale.
