SaXcell towel in use for 1 year: initial results
Circular textile chain moving step by step closer
Circularity in textiles sounds promising, but it is not easy. Developments are ongoing. New fibers and circular solutions are emerging rapidly, but it takes time to move from idea to a scalable product. With SaXcell yarns in towels, a promising perspective is emerging.
From innovation to application
SaXcell converts used cotton into a new cellulose fiber through chemical recycling. This creates the opportunity to truly recycle textiles from fiber to fiber. The fiber is comparable to virgin cotton and can even be stronger, while requiring significantly less water in production. Where traditional cotton production requires thousands of liters of water per kilo, SaXcell uses around 10 liters.
However, introducing a new fiber into an existing product does not yet demonstrate how that product performs in an industrial laundry process, with high temperatures, chemicals, and mechanical stress.
The SaXcell fiber is made from used textiles.
This means less use of agricultural land, water, and chemicals compared to growing new (“virgin”) cotton. Only 10 liters of water are used per kilogram of fibers, as opposed to the thousands of liters required for new cotton.
Testing in practice
In 2022, the first Blycolin towels were developed using 65% SaXcell yarns in the pile loops of the fabric, in collaboration with Wevotex and Saxcell. In practice, hospitality textiles must withstand intensive washing, drying, and ironing. One principle is leading: a circular product must have at least the same lifespan as a conventional product.
After multiple production runs and extensive wash tests in industrial laundries, the next step was taken: testing under real-life conditions. At a customer site in Germany, a practical test has now been running for over a year. The linen is fully integrated into the regular process. Day in, day out. The customer is satisfied, and the quality remains stable.
Why this requires more
The results are positive, but they also show why scaling up is not straightforward. Chemical recycling, as used by SaXcell, makes it possible to recover high-quality fibers. At the same time, the cost level is still higher than that of traditional materials.
Scaling up is therefore not only a technological challenge, but also a market challenge. Only when sufficient demand for circular materials arises, and both clients and consumers are willing to invest in them, can production take place on a larger scale.
This also means that circularity remains a conscious choice, where impact and cost must be balanced. That is precisely where the key lies. Impact is not created by innovation alone, but by application. By volume. And that requires collaboration across the value chain.
Scaling up requires collaboration
With the construction of a factory in Enschede, an important step is being taken toward that scale-up. However, technology alone is not enough. The next phase requires joint decisions across the entire textile chain, from producer to user, within both the laundry industry and fashion. This brings a circular textile chain step by step closer.
For Blycolin, the ambition is clear: by 2050, 100% of its own textile waste must be processed into new raw materials. Innovations such as SaXcell demonstrate that this direction is achievable.
Acceleration lies in collaboration and in the willingness to invest together in circular solutions.
