Europe is accelerating textile circularity — a major opportunity for the industry to take !

A European revision targeting textiles

On July 5th, the European Commission proposed a revision of the Waste Framework Directive, specifically targeting the textile sector — one of the most polluting and linear industries today.

🎯 The goal? Effective separate collection by 2025, and above all, the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles in all Member States. These systems would include dedicated funding for reuse, preparation for recycling, and textile waste management.

What textile EPR will change

👉 What changes?
Producers would be responsible for the costs of collecting, sorting, and treating the textiles they put on the market.
Member States will need to establish harmonized EPR systems for textiles, with eco-modulated contributions (based on durability, repairability, recyclability, etc.).
This paves the way for a more transparent, traceable, and circular ecosystem.

Ecollant’s view: an opportunity to seize

🔍 At Ecollant, we see this proposal as a strong signal: the regulatory framework is finally catching up with the environmental urgency and the innovations already happening on the ground.

We believe in an ambitious, fair, and actionable textile EPR system — one that truly supports circular models like ours, built on reuse, source sorting, and traceability.

👉 This directive is a great opportunity to build a real circular textile sector in Europe.
But for it to become a true driver of transformation, it must be designed as a systemic shift — not just a transfer of responsibility. It’s about backing an innovative, traceable, and scalable industry.

🔬 At Ecollant, we’ve developed a closed-loop recycling technology for polyamide, based on traceability and material analysis. A solution built to fit perfectly within an efficient EPR model — from collection all the way to regeneration into recycled polyamide yarn.

👉 To read the full European proposal: https://lnkd.in/eDUJR9uh

The Crucial Role of Startups in Fashion’s Green Transition: Our Take!

Fashion: an industry in need of transformation

Fashion, often seen as a field of creativity and self-expression, is also one of the most polluting industries. Responsible for 20% of global wastewater and 10% of carbon emissions, the sector faces an urgent need for transformation. Startups are at the heart of this shift, bringing essential innovation, agility, and environmental commitment to an industry that can be rigid and slow to evolve.

The key role of startups

Unlike large corporations, often constrained by heavy structures and complex processes, startups have the flexibility to explore groundbreaking solutions. They pioneer new materials—sometimes bio-based—, technologies for full traceability, and truly circular models.

At ECOLLANT, we’ve chosen to tackle a specific challenge: textile waste management, particularly polyamide blended with other fibers. This material, omnipresent in our clothing, presents a complex recycling challenge, which we address with an innovative extraction process that enables closed-loop recycling.

From innovation to impact: the power of collaboration

🔹 But innovation alone is not enough.
Real impact comes from strong collaborations with industrial players. By combining the agility of startups with the execution power of large companies, we can move from promising prototypes to large-scale implementation. This synergy significantly accelerates fashion’s green transition. In addition, consumer engagement, public policies, and financial support are essential to sustain a more sustainable industry.

💡 At ECOLLANT, we believe that fashion’s transformation must be a collective priority, an entire industry effort.
Thinking in terms of a full supply chain might take longer than isolated efforts, but it creates deeper impact, from collecting end-of-life textiles to launching circular products on the market.

♻️ From recycled to recyclable!

Since our founding in 2019, we’ve worked tirelessly to build a winning model, supported by key institutional players who have been instrumental in our journey. These partners, including the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region, AER BFC, ADEME, Bpifrance, and CHEMTECH, have trusted us with dedicated support programs and continue to accompany us toward our industrial-scale deployment.

📊 Data source:

  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2018 report: “Fashion and the Environment”, highlighting the massive environmental footprint of the textile industry.
  • The Good Goods article: “What is ‘Grand Export’?” – 2025.

Women in Industry & Tech: A Driver for Sustainable Innovation

Lady’J Tech: celebrating women in industry

At ECOLLANT, we firmly believe that industrial innovation thrives on diversity. That’s why we’re proud to see Agathe participate once again in Lady’J Tech, an event dedicated to showcasing the contributions of women in industry, technology, and innovation.

This inspiring day in Dijon was packed with insightful discussions and valuable exchanges:
🔬 Dij’ Innov Connect – Exploring the potential of public research and regional innovation
🏭 Lady’s Industry – Empowering women’s careers in industry and inspiring the next generation of talent
🌍 Women in Tech & Industry on an International Scale – Learning from three remarkable European women who are pushing the boundaries of innovation

The impact of deeptech innovation across industries was highlighted, particularly in healthcare, mobility and textiles.

Why diversity drives innovation

👉 Why does this matter?
Because bringing more women into industry means embracing fresh perspectives, innovative approaches, and more sustainable solutions. At ECOLLANT, we transform textile waste into valuable resources, and we know that building the industry of tomorrow requires diverse talents.

A huge thank you to the organizers and speakers who are driving real change! 🔥
Dijon Métropole & Ville de Dijon

➡️ What do you think are the key actions to accelerate women’s presence in tech and industry? 💬

#Flashback: When an Event Changes Everything, Nostalgia Kicks In 🌟

A look back at the European Circular Fashion Trophies

At the end of December, we had the honor of attending the 2024 edition of the European Circular Fashion Trophies, this time as 2022 laureates. 🏆♻️✂️

For us, this event was a direct time-travel back to 2022 in Lille, when we proudly stood as finalists, ready to pitch our project with impact. A bit nervous before stepping onto the stage, we spent time engaging with an inspiring and complementary ecosystem, meeting incredible projects like Blue&Pastel-Le Rêve Bleu, Juin fait le lin, MooM, Perpète, and Chandam.

Beyond the competition, this was the kind of event where we found ourselves aligned both with decision-makers—convinced we can help achieve the 2050 sustainability goals—and fellow greentech innovators.

🌱 Building Meaningful Collaborations

Building meaningful collaborations

One of the most exciting outcomes? Collaborating with forward-thinking individuals committed to textile waste collection within their companies.

A standout memory: Tristan Michel de la Morvonnais, CSR leader at SNCF Voyageurs Nord.
Inspired by our approach, he invited us to present ECOLLANT in his company’s monthly webinars, encouraging employees to collect and recycle their end-of-life polyamide textiles.

👉 The result?
A true success: SNCF employees embraced our vision, setting up internal collection points within their offices. 🚉 But the story didn’t stop there—ECOLLANT was invited to “Voyage en Nord,” a unique initiative where we boarded the Paris-Lille train to engage passengers in sustainability discussions… even taking the mic at the onboard café! 🎤

💼 What’s next?

The future: fashion brands and recyclers together

Beyond textile collection and the incredible exchanges we’ve had along the way, the future lies in collaborations between fashion brands and recyclers.
Our mission remains clear: help brands create truly sustainable collections using breakthrough textile recycling technologies.

A massive thank you to everyone who has crossed our path and contributed to growing this project. Every meeting matters, every opportunity opens new doors—and this is just the beginning! 🚀

🙏 Special thanks to Anthony Jaugeard and the entire team behind the European Circular Fashion Trophies—we’ll always be thrilled to attend this high-value European competition!

Wrapping Up Global Industrie 2025… What an Experience!

Global Industrie 2025: what an experience

Four intense days filled with inspiring connections, strategic discussions, and game-changing confirmations: the industry of the future is already taking shape, and ECOLLANT is proud to be part of it 🚀.

💬 “In this world, who are the front-line fighters besides the soldiers?”

This powerful statement from François Bayrou, delivered during his speech on Thursday, resonated deeply. Industry is on the front line—driving both reindustrialization and the ecological transition.

🔹 Key Takeaways from This Edition

Key takeaways from this edition

✔️ Circular economy is no longer a side topic—it’s now central to industrial strategies, unlocking real business opportunities.
ECOLLANT demonstrated this alongside fellow industrial pioneers like Carbon Waters, BATCONNECT, ENTENT, MAPEA, and many more.
💡 We proved that circularity is not only feasible—it’s profitable.

✔️ Strategic partnerships are accelerating the shift towards sustainability.
Discussions with industrial leaders, local authorities, and key players like ADEME and Métropole de Lyon highlight a shared commitment to scaling sustainable models.

✔️ The Collectif Startups Industrielles France is playing a vital role in helping innovations scale from prototype to full industrial deployment—a challenge we know all too well!
Special thanks to Véronique GRICOURT 🧩 for giving us the stage at CSI’s booth on Thursday, and to Alphadio Olory-Togbe for the great discussion on industrial scale-up in textiles!

🔹 What’s Next for ECOLLANT?

What’s next for Ecollant?

This event has reinforced our ambitions:
💪 Scaling up our polyamide recycling technology
♻️ Pushing for a zero-waste, circular textile industry
🚀 Strengthening our industrial partnerships to accelerate deployment

An enormous thank you to Bpifrance, La French Fab, Start Industrie, and everyone who made this #JourBleu possible!

The industry of the future will be circular—or it won’t exist at all. 💪

📸 Photo Credits: Alexandre Badot & Start Industrie

The Filming Continues… This Time at AuxR_Lab!

A France 3 documentary filmed at Ecollant

After our participation in the Génération Slow Fashion conference, it’s now our turn to welcome Pauline Pelsy-Johann and the team from Dynamo Production as they film their documentary, soon to be broadcast on France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. 📺

💡 From Theory to Practice

From theory to practice at AuxR_Lab

During the conference, we discussed the future of responsible fashion, the challenges of fast fashion, and concrete solutions to make the industry more circular. Today, it’s all about action: moving from ideas to real-world impact. At Ecollant, we’re proving that another path is possible—one where complex textile waste isn’t a dead end but a valuable resource. From chemistry to industry, from lab to large-scale application, we’re demonstrating how textile recycling can truly work.

📍 Welcome to AuxR_Lab
This is where our innovations come to life, where textile recycling challenges meet tangible solutions, and where the industry of tomorrow is being shaped—more sustainable, more circular. We’re excited to open our doors to the Dynamo Production team and share the behind-the-scenes journey of our commitment to a more responsible fashion industry.

👀 More to come soon… Stay tuned!

A big thank you to Pauline Pelsy-Johann, Dynamo Production, and France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté for shining a light on these crucial topics!

Our Wishes for 2025

As we close the chapter on 2024, a year filled with intense efforts and significant progress, we step into 2025 with renewed energy and ambitious goals.

2025: where innovation meets action

This year, for Ecollant, is the one where innovation meets action: we are moving resolutely toward the industrialization of our project. After months of research, experimentation, optimization, and fruitful collaborations, we are ready to bring one of our polyamide recycling solutions to industrial scale. This is a key milestone, essential to addressing environmental challenges and the growing expectations of the industry.

Our commitment to circular textiles

Our commitment remains unwavering: to recycle textile waste containing polyamide mixed with other materials, thereby reducing their ecological footprint, focusing on end-of-life solutions and raw material extraction.
Why tap into natural resources when we can create new collections from recycled polyamide made from our own clothes?
In doing so, we aim to offer a credible alternative to the linear practices still dominant in the sector. But we know this transformation cannot happen alone. It relies on an ecosystem: you! Since day one in 2019, you have been our partners, funders, and companions on this journey, sharing our successes and vision.

A year of challenges to take on together

The year ahead will bring both technical and human challenges. We will strengthen our collaborations and mobilize our expertise to accelerate the transition to a circular economy in the textile industry. Our goal is to develop our first production tool for the #scaleup phase.

2025 will be a decisive year, and we are eager to share it with you. Thank you to all who have supported us so far. Your trust and support are key drivers for our continued progress.

To each and every one of you, we wish a year filled with meaningful projects, bold collaborations, and collective successes. Together, we have the power to build a more sustainable future. So, are you ready to take on the challenges of 2025?

From the entire Ecollant team, wishing you a wonderful and inspiring year ahead! 🙌

What is planned obsolescence? An issue that also affects textiles!

Planned obsolescence refers to a strategy where certain products are deliberately designed to last only a few years, encouraging consumers to renew their purchases more frequently. While this practice is often associated with electronics, it also exists in the textile sector.

Planned obsolescence in textiles: how it works

In the textile industry, obsolescence can be subtle but very much present.

Here’s what we observe:
1️⃣ Poor quality fibers: clothes made with low-quality materials, which wear out quickly, pill, or even tear after a few washes.
2️⃣ Fast fashion: a frantic pace of collections pushing people to refresh their wardrobe quickly, even when the clothes are still in good condition.
3️⃣ Clothes hard to repair & recycle: fragile seams or blends of non-recyclable fibers often make repairs or recycling difficult, reinforcing their short life cycle. 😉 Paul Dumesny & Olivia PERRIER

In short, it’s a production designed to be fast and cheap, at the expense of everything else! What if we could change this? 🙌

On our side, we continue to work with the French Institute of Textile and Clothing (IFTH) 😉 Carole AUBRY, Axelle Champion, PASCAL RUMEAU to develop durable filaments from every perspective.

Why is this problematic?

Textile obsolescence, particularly linked to synthetic fibers like polyamide, has impressive consequences.

Polyamide, one of the most used synthetic fibers, represents 5.4 million tons produced each year. It is part of a global textile industry that exceeds 70 million tons.

👉 The problem? Limited recycling and extremely slow decomposition, which makes it a major contributor to plastic pollution.

At the same time, the lifespan of clothes has halved in the past 15 years, fueling overconsumption and an explosion in textile waste.

These figures highlight the urgency of developing both technical and cultural solutions by raising awareness among consumers to make more responsible clothing choices.

Our commitment with Ecollant

We are working daily to counter this short-life logic. Our research aims to recycle textiles containing #polyamide to reduce the impacts linked to the end of life of these products, whether they are of good or poor quality.

Our goal is to industrially recycle these textiles, which until now were buried or burned, and also raise awareness among the broader public so that everyone makes more responsible consumption choices in the textile sector. 😉

Source: McKinsey & Company Circular Economy Platform

Victory for Ecollant at the We Impact Contest – Decarbonation Challenge!

Another trophy to add to our collection at the office!

Ecollant wins the We Impact contest

This Thursday, we teased our participation in the final of the We Impact contest, organized by G.A.C. Group (GAC) France in partnership with Bpifrance, Grant Thornton France, Vianeo, Greenage, @Ipsilon, and C2E. This prestigious award aimed to highlight innovative initiatives with a positive environmental impact. We were so excited to be selected for a spot on the podium, and our nylon recycling project convinced the jury! ♻️

The final at the Bpifrance Hub

The final, held on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at the Bpifrance Hub, brought together key players in climate transition, with inspiring speeches from Nicolas Dufourcq (CEO – Bpifrance) and Christophe Boytchev (President, G.A.C. Group).

We had the honor of pitching our project alongside two other finalists who were equally committed, with whom we had the chance to share our preparations just before: Mathias Fonlupt from ENTENT and Vincent BACHET from OCTOMETHA, all presenting solutions aimed at reducing environmental impacts from human activities.

A happy outcome, as we took first place in the contest!

This victory is a milestone in the development of our industrial-focused organization, supported by the GAC teams and their network of partners. We will continue to accelerate, even more!

A big thank you to the organizers and the jury who supported this project, and congratulations to all the “architects” of sustainability who were present on Thursday night (😉 Célia Poncelin)!

A masterclass on climate transition

In addition to the final pitch and awards ceremony, the event hosted a masterclass on the theme “How to Accelerate France’s Climate Transition by 2030?” with expert speakers: Anne-Sophie Marin – ESG Director / Climate Plan Capital Development at Bpifrance, Thomas Rialan – Co-founder of Carbon Cutter, a CSR strategy consulting firm, Yamina Saheb – Founder and CEO of the OpenExp network, GIEC member, Brigitte Roeser-Herlin, Senior advisor at METRON, Climate Tech member of French Tech 2030.

The evening ended with a cocktail dinner, a necessary moment of sharing to go further into sustainability concepts and our vision for decarbonation.

Once again, a huge thank you to the entire organization for this event!

Ecollant at the Deeptech Tour in Dijon

Ecollant at the 2024 Deeptech Tour in Dijon

On Wednesday, we were present in the Cité des Ducs de Bourgogne for the third edition of the Deeptech Tour, an unmissable event for innovation in France and a key moment for the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

A national plan for deeptech

Organized in partnership with Bpifrance and regional players, particularly DECA-BFC, this event is part of both the region’s 25 years of innovation and the national Deeptech plan, which aims to launch 500 startups each year from research laboratories.

Deeptech: This is where it all begins! A convergence point for researchers, startups, PhD students, students, and investors, this tour is dedicated to breakthrough technologies, and that’s what “Deeptech” is all about. These innovations transform industries, revolutionizing how we heal, eat, travel, work, and of course, dress, by integrating new environmental technologies.

On stage to share our journey

In addition to having the chance to speak on stage about the support we’ve received from the regional ecosystem, particularly from Emmanuel Cordelle & Jordan GIBIER regarding #deeptech, we took advantage of this opportunity to reconnect with the heart of this innovation ecosystem and share the latest advancements in our textile recycling project and nylon transformation.

💡 On the agenda: pitch sessions, roundtables, inspiring testimonials, and demonstrations from Deeptech startups across all sectors and at various stages of maturity. And of course, some amazing encounters, like with Mariane Schueller, for example 😉

We were thrilled to return to Dijon, where it all began for us, incubated with Xavier Boidevézi, Gaël MATTEN, Jean-Patrick CORSO… And all the others we thought of fondly!

A big thank you to this region that has offered us, continues to offer us, and will undoubtedly continue to offer us opportunities for accelerating the development of our technology on an industrial scale.