The oven will be housed at the Belgium plant of PurFi Manufacturing, which will work with Resortecs to dismantle garments and then ‘recycle’ the cotton and polyester. 

PurFi is a joint venture between US technology provider PurFi Global and Belgian textile group Concordia Textiles. “We use organic chemicals along with mechanical manipulation to process fabric waste into fibres that are equal to or superior to virgin fibres,” Joy Nunn, PurFi founder, told WSA last summer.

Katrin Ley, managing director of early supporter Fashion for Good, said: “Resortecs tackles a key bottleneck that is keeping the industry away from achieving circular fashion.”

Resortecs is seeking an extra €350,000 for sorting equipment that will be connected to the disassembling oven, thread inventory and business developers. 

Cédric Vanhoeck, an executive at Resortecs, said: “With the funds we will be able to put in place our complete solution that enables brands to dismantle and reuse materials from unsold and returned goods at the highest quality and at industrial scale. Simultaneously, we need to build a strong sales and back-office to cope with the ever-increasing demand from brands.”