Rudolstadt, Germany & Osaka, Japan– 18 June, 2025 – The Managing Director of TITK, Benjamin Redlingshöfer, personally wore the polo shirt at the Expo in Osaka on June 17, 2025. During the Thuringia State Days, he was interviewed by presenter Marco Schreyl in the stage program. Redlingshöfer was visibly proud of his polo shirt with the imprint "300% Recycling". In other words, the shirt is made of a fiber that has survived three processing processes in a row for the first time. So well that it could easily be made into a fashionable polo shirt of the best wearing quality. "With our 300% recycled fibre, we are showing that closed textile recycling cycles can be realised thanks to our technology," says Redlingshöfer. "This innovation proves that we can take recycling in the textile industry to a whole new level."
If textiles are recycled at all, so-called downcycling often takes place. This means that the originally high-quality textile fibres are used to produce textile products of lower quality as part of material recycling. The fiber-to-fiber recycling pursued at TITK, however, aims to produce a recycled fiber with an equally high level of quality and just as good usage properties from a high-quality textile fiber. But even in these recycling cycles, so far often only 20 to 40 percent of recyclates have been added to a larger proportion of virgin material.
"TITK has now been able to impressively demonstrate that not only is one hundred percent recycling of cellulose fibers possible, but that this process can even be used three times in a row without having to compromise on the desired properties of the fiber, such as a pleasant, soft feel, a slight sheen and very good, even colorability," says Redlingshöfer.
Recycling process can also be applied to cotton
The result is a full-fledged, sustainable product that now sets the standard for future recycling processes in the apparel industry. This will drastically reduce the consumption of new virgin-grade fibers in the future. This outstanding innovation was achieved thanks to a further adaptation of the very robust lyocell process established at the institute – specifically with regard to pulp extraction and pretreatment, says Redlingshöfer. "In principle, this recycling cycle can also be applied to cotton fibers as a raw material." TITK invites industry partners to work together on the further development and implementation of these technologies.
Under the flag of the Demonstration and Innovation Center for Textile Circular Economy (DICE), which was founded at the Rudolstadt Institute and is currently being set up, developments for the holistic recycling of textiles are already being promoted. The TITK researchers are now transferring findings from the Lyohemp® recycling project to so-called polycotton textiles, whereby the two material streams of synthetic and cellulosic fibres are also separated in order to then combine them again in a material quality for fibre spinning (fibre-to-fibre or fibre-to-fibre recycling).
"However," adds the head of the institute, "we must not rely solely on technological solutions to absolve us of the responsible use of our resources." For good reason, the RRR rule, which is often mentioned in the circular economy, would have two more R's before recycling: Reduce and Reuse – in German: consume less and reuse more. Redlingshöfer: "Only in combination with a more conscious use of our raw materials will we be able to make a significant contribution to practical sustainability."
