Seattle-based startup Ravel announced on Thursday that it has raised $8.2 million in funding to scale up its recycling technology for synthetic fiber blends.

Ravel's target is elastane, commonly known as spandex or Lycra. This elastic fiber is widely added to almost every category of clothing—activewear, jackets, jeans, underwear, socks, T-shirts, and gloves—and even in small amounts, it makes garments difficult to recycle.

The company has developed a process to dismantle and separate spandex-containing blended fabrics. According to the company, the separated components can be converted into recycled plastic pellets as feedstock for making polyester fabric, at a competitive cost. Ravel calls this process "purification recycling" and emphasizes that it is low-energy, uses safe chemicals, and produces no additional waste or byproducts.

Ravel CEO Zahlen Titcomb said on LinkedIn that the "behind-the-scenes" step of material recovery and valorization is a massive undertaking—and represents a huge opportunity.

The funding will help the company move from its Seattle pilot plant toward commercial operations and validate its approach at production scale together with textile partners.

Currently, most clothing collected for recycling is downcycled into low-value uses rather than being respun into new garments. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that less than 1% of the material used to make clothing is ultimately recycled into new clothing. Meanwhile, fast fashion keeps accelerating: clothing brands now produce roughly twice as many garments as they did in the early 2000s.

Ravel announced pre-seed funding in March 2025 but did not disclose the amount. The company is also a finalist for the 2026 GeekWire Awards Sustainable Innovation award.

This seed round was led by One Small Planet, with "significant participation" from AP Ventures and follow-on investment from institutions including Overlay Capital and Lichen Ventures, while existing investors At One Ventures, Collateral Good, and BetterWay also increased their stakes. Titcomb said he is glad to have found a group of people willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work together.

Source: Startup Ravel raises $8.2M to help solve clothing recycling’s spandex problem · Originally published 2026-09-17