Patrik Frisk is the CEO of textile-to-textile chemical recycling company Reju, following 35 years of management experience at global textile brands including Under Armour, The North Face, and Gore-Tex. Reju was spun out in 2023 from a three-way collaboration between Under Armour, IBM Research, and French engineering firm Technip Energies. Headquartered in Paris and wholly owned by Technip Energies, its first demonstration plant began operating in Frankfurt, Germany, in October 2024. It is now advancing three commercial-scale plants: the first in Sittard, the Netherlands, followed by Rochester, New York, and then Lacq, France.

Key Points

  • Reju's first commercial plant is scheduled to come online between late 2028 and 2029, processing about 60,000 tonnes of textile waste per year (roughly 300 million garments) and producing about 40,000 tonnes of RPET.
  • The process first shreds waste fabric, removes buttons and zippers, and separates fibers such as cotton, wool, elastane, nylon, and polyester. It then uses glycolysis and catalysis to break polyester down into the monomer rBHET in under two minutes, repolymerizes it into RPET and pelletizes it, and finally extrudes it into fibers and yarns.
  • The Rochester, New York, plant is located on the former Eastman Kodak site, which spans 18.9 acres. It is expected to open in 2029, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the project will create about 70 new jobs at Eastman Business Park.

Chemical vs. Mechanical Recycling

Frisk said Reju's process has an advantage over mechanical recycling because it does not rely on melt extrusion: mechanical methods make fibers brittle when heated, often require blending in virgin material to make new clothing, and can only be recycled a few times; Reju's chemical depolymerization can be cycled indefinitely.

The technology's origins trace back to 2019, when Under Armour's materials team discovered that IBM Research in San Jose had developed a new technology capable of processing post-consumer mixed textile waste, handling the tens of thousands of chemicals within it as well as blends of synthetic and natural fibers, and with the potential for industrialization. In 2021, Under Armour, IBM, and Technip Energies formed a joint venture to advance commercialization. After leaving Under Armour in 2022, Frisk was invited to join the new company as its head.

Pricing and Waste Streams

Frisk did not give a specific price, but acknowledged that the product will "of course be more expensive than virgin material, and also more expensive than mechanically recycled material," because a large amount of infrastructure must be built before the first product ships. He also pointed to a hidden cost in the fashion industry: in 2024, more than 78 million tonnes of polyester entered the global waste stream, with less than 1% of it returned to make new clothing.

On the environmental side, Reju's plants will be fully closed-loop, and components that cannot be recycled will be disposed of as waste under applicable law; the process emits 50% less CO2 than making polyester from petroleum.

Feedstock Partnerships and Future Plans

The Rochester plant will be supplied with feedstock by Goodwill and WM. Jennifer Lake, president and CEO of Goodwill of the Finger Lakes, said the Northeast Goodwill Circularity Center led by that organization (made up of 11 Goodwills) will supply Reju with polyester-rich material. Reju will also set up an R&D lab near Philadelphia in Conshohocken, relying on Technip Energies' existing advanced materials and catalyst research center, with research directions including more efficient processing of other fibers separated from polyester.

Industry Significance

For the used-clothing trade and textile recycling industry, Reju represents an industrialization attempt at a "textile-to-textile" closed-loop route: replacing downcycling with chemical depolymerization and pulling post-consumer mixed textile waste back into the apparel raw material supply chain. Frisk also responded to outside concerns—namely that recycling makes people feel okay about overconsumption and perpetuates dependence on plastic; he believes that even projecting the company's business scale ten years out, it would be difficult to have a noticeable impact on overall consumption, and that plastic's deep roots in the economy and society cannot be changed in the short term. What can be chosen is to use it in a better, more sustainable way.

Source: Reju’s Patrik Frisk on the promise of textile-to-textile recycling · Originally published 2026-10-01