Recover™, a leading material sciences company and producer of sustainable, premium recycled cotton fiber and cotton fiber blends, through a strategic partnership with STORY3 Capital, is expanding to meet the surging demand from the global fashion industry. This strategic partnership will accelerate Recover’s efforts to transform the fashion industry by solving one of the world’s biggest environmental issues. STORY3 Capital brings significant investment, resources, and best-in-class operators to achieve Recover’s growth initiatives.
The adverse environmental impact of the fashion industry is staggering, and the industry is lagging behind its climate action commitments and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Cotton is one of the most damaging crops grown on earth, requiring large amounts of water, pesticides, and land. As an example, one t-shirt requires 2,700 liters of water, equivalent to what an average person drinks in three years(1).
Recover recycles industrial and pre- and post-consumer cotton waste, replacing the need to cultivate cotton, limiting the use of dyes through its ColorBlend system, and reducing textile landfill waste. Through its proprietary technology using a combination of art and science, Recover provides cost competitive, maximum performance fibers for both rotor and ring spinning applications. Per the Higg Material Sustainability Index, Recover’s recycled cotton fiber has the lowest environmental impact score in the world.
As a result of the investment, Recover will increase its production to 200,000 metric tons of recycled cotton fiber per year by 2025. This will save nearly three trillion liters of water each year, equivalent to the drinking water consumed by 3 billion people on an annual basis, and allow 500,000 acres of land to be directed away from cotton cultivation for other uses.
Peter Comisar, Founder and CEO of STORY3 Capital and former Partner at Goldman Sachs & Co. said, “Recover is uniquely positioned to be the global sustainability leader in cotton recycling by acting as an agent of change within the industry, and quickly becoming the gold standard in closing the loop on fashion.” Ben Malka, Operating Partner at STORY3 Capital and Executive Chairman of Recover stated, “We immediately saw the potential to impact the pent-up demand for recycled cotton by scaling production and working with the industry to innovate and migrate to Recover Fibers.”
Recover is part of a fourth-generation family-owned company with a 70-year long history in textile recycling technology. Under the leadership of the Ferre family, Recover has specialized in creating premium recycled cotton fiber from textile waste using proprietary technology and innovative mechanical recycling machinery. The fiber is ultimately spun into yarn by supply chain partners and transformed into finished apparel garments and home textiles. Recover has supplied its recycled cotton and cotton blend fibers to illustrious brands such as Wrangler, H&M Group, Tommy Hilfiger, G-Star, The Northface, Billabong and Bonobo among many others during its rich history.
“My family has been innovating for generations to perfect the Recover process, which is primed to be fashion industry’s biggest resource in meeting its sustainability goals,” said Alfredo Ferre, CEO of Recover. “We’re proud to offer potential partners the highest quality and lowest-impact fiber available in today’s market, and we look forward to increasing our sustainability footprint thanks to our partnership with STORY3 Capital.”