Specials

As textile waste escalates and regeneration pathways remain limited, new circular materials are beginning to influence discussions around scale and feasibility. A newly introduced fibre offers a mechanical route that avoids additional chemical processing and broadens application potential. Here, Manmohan Singh, Chief Marketing Officer at Birla Cellulose, details the technology, ecosystem alignment, and market readiness informing this development.

Growing scrutiny of textile waste is exposing a technical reality: recyclers remain limited by trim heterogeneity, variable feedstock quality and labour-intensive preprocessing. From this vantage point, Eileen Mockus, COO at Accelerating Circularity, outlines how these structural barriers influence both early-stage pilots and industrial recycling lines. Her analysis points to the need for standardised specifications and coordinated investment to improve outcomes.

The single largest cotton trading company and a public sector undertaking under the Union Ministry of Textiles, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), established in 1970, undertakes price support and commercial purchase operations to safeguard the economic interest of farmers in the cotton growing regions and to ensure its smooth supply to the textile industry. A Q&A with its Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, Lalit Kumar Gupta.

Over half the oxygen humans breathe originates from oceans now receiving a container-load of plastic waste every minute, with 94% sinking to fragment invisibly. Seaqual Initiative was founded in 2016 by textile industrialists who recognised that beach cleanups wouldn't address degradation at scale. Through strategically positioned recovery points in Tunisia, Mexico, Egypt and Vietnam, the operation has collected 1,000 tonnes of marine litter.

His is a classic case of how an artisan from the grassroot level can rise to reach some of the most famed museums in the world. Not many know but he has, stitch by stitch, needle by needle, threaded his way into the cultural mosaic that this country is. His thread is his voice, his loom a battleground for respect. In conversation with Asif Shaikh.

Surat is built by people who arrived with little but resolve, turning hardship into high-growth enterprises. Their stories reveal a city that rewards speed, grit and practical intelligence—a place where partnerships form easily, risks are absorbed quickly and learning never stops. Here, ambition meets an ecosystem that converts effort into scale, making enterprise almost instinctive.

The fashion sector continues to struggle with inconsistent data, fragmented supply chains and growing regulatory pressure, limiting progress on circularity. The updated Circular Transition Indicators guidance aims to overcome these challenges with refined methodologies and clearer regulatory alignment. Elisabetta Rocchi, Associate for Circular Products and Materials at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, outlines how the sector-specific edition strengthens measurement and implementation.

The fashion industry’s demand for distressed denim often clashes with reliance on potassium permanganate, heavy bleaching, and water-intensive laundering. Pressure to modernise these approaches keeps growing. Providing momentum is Archroma, which developed the Denim Halo system to engineer predictable surface dyeing upstream, enabling strong contrasts with markedly reduced resource use and operational complexity.

The third edition of FTSC at Woxsen University convened global scholars, designers and industry leaders to address fashion's social impact. With 103 peer-reviewed papers and keynotes from Manchester Fashion Institute and London College of Fashion, the conference explored ethical labour, cultural preservation and systemic transformation beyond reputational management.

It’s a paradox wrapped in polyester. Surat—the city that spins out 60 million metres of manmade fabric every single day—stands on the verge of an industrial chokehold. With 700,000 looms running and ₹200 billion in turnover, India’s synthetic hub is built on imported muscle: machines, yarn, and know-how. Now, a compliance rule threatens to pull the plug on that ecosystem—testing whether the synthetic capital can truly stitch together scale, self-reliance, and sustainability before the loom slows down.