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Re-START Alliance Launches Cluster Collective To Scale Textile Recycling In India

• By  Textile Excellence
• December 15, 2025

India’s push toward circular textiles gained momentum as the Re-START Alliance launched Cluster Collective, its first flagship project aimed at accelerating textile to textile recycling across key industrial hubs. The four-year programme is led by IDH and adopts a cluster driven model to unlock value from India’s rapidly growing textile waste stream.

Cluster Collective will initially focus on Ludhiana and Indore, two major textile centres that together represent significant volumes of post-industrial and post-consumer waste. India generates nearly 7.8 million tonnes of textile waste every year, making it one of the largest contributors globally. Industry experts view this waste as a major economic opportunity as global brands increasingly demand compliant recycled fibres.

The programme plans to deploy €13 million in blended finance through a technical assistance fund managed by Navaka Social Business Fund. Capital will support advanced sorting and recycling infrastructure, integration of traceability technologies, and formalisation of labour across the value chain. The initiative also aims to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and improve feedstock flows at the cluster level.

Market integration forms a core pillar of the project. Early engagement with brands and recyclers through letters of interest and offtake agreements will help create steady demand for circular materials. Shared infrastructure and coordinated investment are expected to reduce fragmentation that has long constrained scale in India’s recycling ecosystem.

Re-START, convened by Laudes Foundation along with founding partners Canopy, Fashion For Good and IDH, has set a target to bring one million tonnes of additional recycled fibres back into textile supply chains. Cluster Collective marks a decisive step toward that ambition and signals stronger alignment between sustainability goals and industrial growth.

The programme plans to deploy €13 million in blended finance through a technical assistance fund managed by Navaka Social Business Fund. Capital will support advanced sorting and recycling infrastructure, integration of traceability technologies, and formalisation of labour across the value chain. The initiative also aims to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and improve feedstock flows at the cluster level.