Industry leaders from across the fashion, recycling and policy landscape are gathering this week in San Diego for the Textile Recovery Summit 2026, an event that underscores mounting global pressure to tackle textile waste and accelerate circular economy solutions.
The three-day conference, held from Feb. 23 to 25, is organized by Resource Recycling, Inc. in partnership with the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) and Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona. It is co-located with the Plastics Recycling Conference and the Resource Recycling Conference, drawing a combined audience of more than 3,000 attendees and over 250 exhibitors.
The summit comes at a pivotal moment for the apparel industry, which faces intensifying regulatory scrutiny and investor pressure over its environmental footprint. Textile waste remains one of the fastest-growing solid waste streams globally, with millions of tons discarded annually and recycling rates still in the single digits in many markets.
Much of the discussion this year centers on extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies for textiles, particularly the implementation pathway for California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act (SB 707). The legislation, widely viewed as a potential template for other jurisdictions, would require producers to fund and manage end-of-life textile collection and recycling systems.
Industry executives, policymakers and recyclers are using the summit to assess how quickly infrastructure can scale to meet anticipated regulatory mandates. Speakers highlighted that while brand commitments to circularity have multiplied in recent years, the physical systems needed to collect, sort and process post-consumer textiles remain fragmented and underdeveloped.
Technology innovation is another major focus. Several sessions are examining advances in automated fiber identification, including AI-enabled sorting systems designed to separate blended fabrics — long considered one of the biggest barriers to textile recycling at scale. Chemical recycling technologies capable of recovering polyester and cellulosic fibers from mixed waste streams are also drawing significant attention from investors and brands.
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Participants say the commercial viability of these technologies will be critical if the sector is to move beyond pilot projects. While mechanical recycling remains dominant, it typically downcycles materials into lower-value products, limiting true circularity.
Global trade dynamics in secondhand textiles are also under scrutiny. Export-dependent reuse markets in Africa and Asia continue to play a major role in extending garment lifecycles, but tightening import restrictions in some countries are forcing the industry to reconsider domestic processing capacity and alternative end markets.
For major apparel sourcing hubs such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and India, the policy direction emerging from the summit could carry long-term implications. As Western markets move toward mandatory EPR and higher recycled content requirements, manufacturers may face growing pressure to integrate traceability, fiber-to-fiber recycling and circular design principles into production.
Sustainability experts at the event noted that collaboration across the value chain — from brands and retailers to collectors, sorters and recyclers — remains uneven. Financing models for large-scale textile recovery infrastructure are still evolving, and uncertainty around feedstock quality and volume continues to challenge investors.
Nevertheless, momentum is building. Attendance at textile-focused recycling events has grown sharply in recent years, reflecting what analysts describe as a structural shift in how the fashion industry is approaching waste. Several major brands and technology firms are expected to announce new partnerships and pilot programs during the conference.
Organizers say the goal of the Textile Recovery Summit is to move the conversation from ambition to execution. With regulatory deadlines approaching in key markets and consumer scrutiny intensifying, industry stakeholders are under increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable progress toward circular textile systems.
The outcomes of this year’s summit are likely to influence policy development, investment flows and supply-chain strategies well beyond North America, particularly as the global apparel sector grapples with the complex economics of textile recovery at scale.
