Resource Recycling has published an interview with Patrik Frisk, chief executive of Reju, in which he lays out the commercial and technical case for textile-to-textile recycling as a viable route to securing feedstock for future fibre production.

The interview, reported by Resource Recycling, frames textile-to-textile recycling not as a brand communications exercise but as a manufacturing proposition: recovering polyester and other fibres from post-consumer and post-industrial textile waste and converting them back into specification-grade material that brands and their tier-one suppliers can actually buy at volume.

That framing matters for sourcing teams. Under the EU's revised Waste Framework Directive, member states must introduce mandatory separate textile waste collection from 1 January 2025 — a legal deadline that turns sorting and fibre recovery from a voluntary sustainability initiative into a compliance and cost question for anyone selling apparel into the European market. Textile-to-textile capability sits directly in that regulatory frame, alongside the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and its extended producer responsibility proposals.

For buyers, the strategic question Frisk's interview raises is straightforward. Recycled-content claims on polyester are already traceable to standards such as the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) administered by Textile Exchange, and to specific tariff and customs treatment in some jurisdictions. As textile-to-textile capacity scales, buyers will need to decide whether to secure offtake from dedicated recovery operations like Reju or continue relying on the bottle-based recycled polyester supply, which competes for feedstock with the packaging sector's own recycled-content mandates.

Frisk's background gives the interview weight with the manufacturing audience. Before joining Reju, he served as chief executive of Under Armour and, earlier, as president and chief executive of Timberland owner VF Outdoor. He has run sourcing organisations on the buyer side; his argument for fibre recovery comes from someone who has managed the supplier relationships it would run through.

The interview places Reju among the companies building industrial-scale textile regeneration capacity — a category that now includes Renewcell's successor operations, Circ, Worn Again Technologies and Infinited Fiber, each targeting different chemistry for cellulose- and polyester-based waste streams. Sector-watchers should note the distinction between demonstrated pilot output and contracted commercial volume, and treat capacity announcements accordingly: Resource Recycling's interview covers Frisk's strategic argument, and buyers should anchor decisions to confirmed offtake agreements and certification status rather than stated ambition.

The sourcing decision this news forces is one of timing. Brands with EU sales exposure face collection and EPR obligations on a fixed timetable; those wanting textile-to-textile recycled content in their assortments will need supplier qualification, certification to a recognised standard, and volume commitments locked well before those deadlines bite. Waiting for the technology to settle risks competing for scarce certified feedstock with competitors who signed early.

Note: this item is based on the published interview headline and framing from Resource Recycling; sourcing teams should consult the full interview for Frisk's specific capacity figures and commercial commitments.