French biotech company Carbios, together with Patagonia, PUMA and Salomon, has produced T-shirts from recycled polyester on conventional European production lines, validating its enzymatic recycling process across the entire textile value chain for the first time. Over the three-year collaboration, partner Selenis produced more than one tonne of recycled pellets called EnzyTex r-PET, with fibers matching virgin polyester on industrial metrics such as tensile strength, dyeability and color fastness.

Key points

  • Carbios, with Patagonia, PUMA and Salomon, converted mixed textile and plastic waste into wearable fabric on standard European factory equipment.
  • Partner Selenis produced over one tonne of EnzyTex r-PET pellets over three years, with fiber tensile strength, dyeability and color fastness benchmarked against virgin polyester.
  • The PET bio-recycling joint venture in Haining, China, is planned to process 50,000 tonnes of waste PET per year, with Wankai holding 70% and Carbios 30%, a construction cost of about EUR 115 million, and a target start of production in Q1 2027.

The feedstock itself is the hard part: mixed textile and plastic waste is usually difficult for mechanical sorting to break into clean, single streams, whereas Carbios' biological route completed the process under ordinary industrial conditions rather than in a controlled laboratory environment.

Fiber quality matters as much as capacity. For apparel brands, only recycled fiber that meets spec can enter regular collections rather than niche limited editions. This demonstration shows the technology can deliver on that point.

Running the process on established European lines also means downstream processors do not need to build dedicated plants to adopt it. For Carbios, this trial production is a proof point for its technology pathway before larger-scale commercialization.

Fiber-to-fiber success also strengthens Carbios' confidence in rolling out the technology globally. In Asia, the company is working through a joint venture with Wankai to build a PET bio-recycling plant in Haining, China. Under the JV structure, Wankai holds 70% and Carbios 30%. The plant is designed to process 50,000 tonnes of waste PET per year, with an estimated construction cost of about EUR 115 million, funded 30% by equity and 70% by debt guaranteed by Wankai, and is scheduled to start production in the first quarter of 2027.

The capital market reacted positively to the textile news. Carbios shares rose 10% that day to EUR 6.01, though it was a rare bright spot for a stock down 47% year to date. The company remains in a transition period, with a net loss of EUR 34.3 million for fiscal 2025 and a market capitalization of EUR 88.91 million. Whether partnerships with sports brands can translate into binding, large-scale orders in the near term will be key to its next phase.

For the used clothing and textile recycling industry, the significance of this case is that the commercial processing path for blended waste is extending from sorting to chemical and biological depolymerization, and is beginning to leverage existing production lines rather than relying on entirely new plants, adding another mass-production-level example to the textile-to-textile closed loop in the high-value direction.

Source: Carbios Proves Enzymatic Recycling at Industrial Scale as Patagonia, PUMA and Salomon Turn Mixed Was · Originally published 2026-09-29