Taiwan recycles about 82,000 tons of used clothing each year, but old garments vary greatly in fiber composition, dyes, coatings, and accessories. Recyclers must first sort and deal with buttons, zippers, and blended fabrics before entering depolymerization or re-spinning processes. The more complex the material composition, the higher the sorting and purification costs, and the harder it is to maintain recycled fiber quality. This has become the main bottleneck for scaling up the commercialization of Textile-to-Textile (T2T, clothing-to-clothing) recycling. The industry's competitive focus has shifted from "can it be recycled" to whether waste clothing can be stably sourced, pretreatment costs controlled, and production scaled with quality close to virgin materials. The industry's solution direction is therefore no longer limited to improving recycling equipment, but instead moving the circular concept forward to the product design stage, with "single material" becoming a new direction in textile development.

Key Points

  • Taiwan recycles about 82,000 tons of used clothing each year. Differences in blends, coatings, and accessories lead to high sorting and purification costs, the main bottleneck for T2T commercialization.
  • Shinkong has mass-produced NEOLAST elastic fiber, with an initial annual capacity of 600 tons, replacing traditional Spandex with thermoplastic elastoester material.
  • Far Eastern New Century uses 100% recycled nylon 66 raw material combined with material modification and spinning technology. Fabric stretch can reach 25%, higher than the 10% to 15% of general mechanical elastic fibers.

The key breakthrough for widespread adoption lies in elastic fibers. Fabrics for sports, yoga, and intimate apparel usually use polyester or nylon as the main body, with a small amount of Spandex added to provide stretch. However, Spandex is a polyurethane, and its chemical structure and processing conditions differ from polyester and nylon, so it cannot be directly incorporated into their existing recycling processes. Even at a low addition ratio, it may affect depolymerization, melting, and remanufactured quality, making it the most difficult link in clothing-to-clothing circularity.

To remove this obstacle, Taiwanese chemical fiber manufacturers are separately building single-material solutions for polyester and nylon. On the polyester side, Shinkong (1409) has mass-produced NEOLAST elastic fiber, with an initial annual capacity of 600 tons. The product replaces traditional Spandex with thermoplastic elastoester material, improving compatibility with polyester recycling systems while maintaining stretch, recovery, and comfort. Nan Ya (1303)'s independently developed Nyudex TPEE thermoplastic polyester elastic yarn has also entered mass production and is being co-developed with several international brands. The product uses a melt-spinning process without solvents, providing elasticity while allowing polyester apparel to maintain the same material system, with applications targeting sports, yoga, and casual wear. Li Peng (1444) is moving toward polyester-family materials such as PTT, TPEE, and rTPEE, attempting to remake recycled polyester into elastic materials and establish a closed polyester loop.

On the nylon side, Far Eastern New Century (1402) uses 100% recycled nylon 66 raw material combined with material modification and spinning technology, enabling fabrics to have stretch and recovery without adding Spandex. Related fabrics can reach 25% stretch, higher than the 10% to 15% of general mechanical elasticity, while maintaining nylon 66 as a single material and improving the feasibility of subsequent whole-garment recycling.

From an industry perspective, this round of material-side transformation means competition in recycled fibers is extending from front-end waste clothing processing to the fiber design stage. Whether elastic fibers can be compatible with polyester or nylon main systems will directly affect the scale and cost of single-garment recycling, and will also determine whether the T2T supply chain can truly scale up next.

Source: 《DJ Online》T2T Moves Toward a Design-End Revolution, 'Recyclable Elastic Fibers' Become Manufacturers' New Battleground - MoneyDJ Financial Network · Originally published on 2026-10-08