The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel signed memoranda of understanding with Spanish machinery maker Jeanologia and U.S. recycling firm Looptworks on June 24 to launch the Green Machine Circular Textile Ecosystem, marking what the partners describe as the most significant commercialization step yet for a hydrothermal technology designed to separate cotton-polyester blends at industrial scale.
The signing took place at the Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels, where HKRITA Chief Executive Jake Koh, Jeanologia Global Director of Sustainable Innovation Begoña García and Looptworks founder and CEO Scott Hamlin formalized the three-way agreement. The partnership pairs HKRITA’s research with Jeanologia’s manufacturing capacity and Looptworks’ fiber-processing operations, an arrangement the institute frames as a shift from laboratory proof-of-concept to deployable industrial infrastructure.
At the center of the ecosystem is Green Machine 4.0, the latest version of a hydrothermal process HKRITA has developed with backing from the H&M Foundation since 2016. The system recovers polyester from cotton-polyester blended fabrics at purity levels of 98% or higher, using only heat, water and a small proportion of green chemical agents, without chemical solvents. The institute has previously reported that the process takes roughly two hours per cycle and consumes substantially less energy than producing virgin polyester from scratch, an efficiency gain that has helped position blended-fabric recycling as commercially viable rather than merely experimental.
Blended fabrics have long been considered one of the textile industry’s most intractable recycling problems. Cotton-polyester blends, which dominate apparel categories from t-shirts to workwear, have historically been difficult to separate without degrading fiber quality, leaving most post-consumer blended textiles destined for landfill or incineration rather than reuse. HKRITA’s hydrothermal approach addresses that bottleneck directly, and Koh said the technology is now “adoption-ready and scalable,” calling the moment a decisive shift from research toward commercialization.
Jeanologia’s role is to supply industrial-grade machinery that meets European standards and complies with the European Union’s high-pressure equipment requirements, positioning the Valencia-based company as the first official machinery partner for Green Machine 4.0. Jeanologia, which has spent 25 years developing laser and ozone-based finishing technology for the denim sector, is extending that manufacturing expertise to textile-to-textile recycling equipment intended for integration into existing industrial operations.
Looptworks, a Certified B Corporation based in the United States, will process the recovered fibers, converting pre- and post-consumer textile waste into fibers certified under the Global Recycled Standard. Hamlin, whose company has collaborated with HKRITA for more than a decade on circularity research, said blended materials have long been a major barrier to scaling circular textile production and that the technology now allows recovered fibers to be reintroduced into supply chains at commercial volumes.
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The announcement comes as the Textiles Recycling Expo, now in its second year, was co-located for the first time with the Future Fabrics Expo at Brussels Expo, bringing recyclers, brands and sustainable-materials suppliers into a single venue. HKRITA has previously licensed Green Machine technology at cost price through support from the H&M Foundation, an open-source-style model aimed at maximizing industry adoption rather than generating licensing margins, with earlier adopters including Monki, PT Kahanex and Isko.
The three partners said the ecosystem is designed to support multiple deployment scenarios across the value chain, inviting additional textile recyclers, brands and manufacturing partners to join. The companies framed the initiative as evidence that circular economy commitments are moving from policy language toward operational infrastructure, as European regulation increasingly pushes brands toward recycled-content targets and extended producer responsibility for textile waste.
The timing aligns with a regulatory push in which the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and forthcoming extended producer responsibility schemes for textiles are expected to drive brands toward higher recycled-fiber content. Mechanical recycling, the most widely used method today, degrades fiber quality with each cycle and struggles with mixed-fiber inputs, leaving a gap that hydrothermal separation technologies like Green Machine 4.0 are positioned to fill. Blended fabrics make up a majority of global apparel production, which is why a scalable separation process has long been treated as a priority target by brands and recyclers.
For Jeanologia, the deal extends a 25-year denim-finishing equipment business into recycling infrastructure, leveraging its existing relationships with mills and manufacturers. For Looptworks, access to GRS-certified recycled polyester at industrial volumes offers steadier feedstock than the deadstock and offcuts it has traditionally processed. HKRITA gains two commercial partners capable of moving its research from pilot lines to factory floors, a step publicly funded textile innovation has often struggled to complete alone.