C&A and Zalando Sign On for AltMat's Altag Waste-Based Fibre

C&A and Zalando have committed to producing their first styles with Altag, a fibre made from agricultural waste, in the first brand signatories to Fashion for Good's Altag Fiber Club. The commitment was announced on Tuesday. No order volumes, product launch dates or Zalando private labels were disclosed.

The omission matters. Fashion for Good launched the club in June 2025 to pool brand demand and minimum order commitments for AltMat's fibre. The model targets a known deadlock in alternative fibres: brands demand reliable supply before purchase, while developers need orders to fund capacity. Tuesday's announcement confirms signatories, not tonnage.

What does the club actually commit brands to?

According to Fashion for Good, the club aggregates resources and minimum order commitments to drive commercial uptake of Altag. Zalando participates through its private labels. Both retailers will help shape the fibre's development, supplying technical requirements and input on manufacturing needs and consumer expectations. The stated aim is fitting Altag into the retailers' supply chains and product lines.

Katrin Ley, managing director of Fashion for Good, said: "Next-gen materials will only deliver on their promise if they reach volume. That requires brands with the scale and conviction to commit early—and that is exactly what Zalando and C&A bring to the Altag Fiber Club. This is the kind of partnership that changes the trajectory of an innovation."

Scale, however, remains unproven. The club itself names the barriers to adoption: production scale, processing compatibility and cost competitiveness. None has a published metric attached.

What is Altag, and who is behind it?

AltMat, the fibre developer, describes Altag as a natural fibre made from agricultural residues from food, medicinal and non-textile crops. That is a developer's description, not a third-party certification. Buyers tracing the sustainability claim will find no named standard, law or verification scheme in the announcement.

Shikha Shah, AltMat's founder and CEO, framed the performance requirement directly: "For these next-generation materials to succeed, they must do more than be responsibly made; they must match the aesthetics and performance that brands and consumers expect, while integrating seamlessly across global supply chains."

She added that Altag "has been relentlessly built to tick all boxes." Testing that claim now falls to C&A and Zalando's technical teams.

A repeat of a proven format

The initiative follows Fashion for Good's first Fiber Club, established in 2024 with textile-to-textile recycler Circ in collaboration with Canopy. That precedent shows the demand-aggregation model can attract brands; it does not show commercial volume followed. Fashion for Good is now seeking additional brand signatories for the Altag club.

Pascal Brun, vice president of sustainability at Zalando, said: "Scaling next-gen materials requires the whole value chain to move together. The Altag Fiber Club gives us a concrete chance to co-develop the material and test its adoption with customers across all of Europe."

Testing adoption is a pilot framing, not a sourcing shift. Zalando has committed to trial, on an undisclosed timetable, through undisclosed labels.

What this changes for sourcing teams

For material sourcers at European brands, the story sets a demand-aggregation template worth watching: pooled minimum orders to de-risk a start-up fibre supplier. The practical questions remain open. Order volumes, price position against cotton and viscose, processing compatibility with existing spinning and dyeing lines, and any certifiable chain-of-custody for the agricultural residues — none is public yet. Until AltMat and its club members publish those figures, the commitment is a development partnership, not a procurement decision.