Circularity in textiles only works when systems, demand, and design come together

In today’s evolving textile landscape, circularity is no longer just a concept, it’s becoming a necessary framework for how the industry moves forward. But building truly circular systems requires more than recycled inputs or broad sustainability claims; it calls for alignment, infrastructure, and collaboration across the entire value chain.

In this interview, Karla Magruder, Founder of Accelerating Circularity, shares her perspective on what it takes to turn ambition into action. Drawing from decades of experience, she reflects on the industry’s progress, the gaps that still exist, and why collective effort not isolated initiatives will define the future of textile-to-textile recycling.

TexSPACE Today: How did your journey start and what got you interested in sustainability of circularity?

Karla Magruder: The reason I got interested in sustainability and circularity was really part of my growth and education within the textile space. Even working for Burlington Industries early on, the biggest textile mill in the United States at the time, we talked a lot about efficiency and safety, and those things fall very much in line with sustainability.

More than 25 years ago, I decided that any work I did in textiles had to be associated with materials and processes that were safer for the environment. I actually led the launch of polylactic acid, the first melt spinnable fiber from a naturally renewable resource, which at the time was corn sugar.

As time moved on, the idea of circularity started growing, but I felt the industry wasn’t really dealing with it accurately. I felt strongly that people needed to be educated on what those terms actually mean.

Sustainability I actually avoid now, it’s too broad. Circular systems I really like, but that doesn’t mean it covers everything.

There are many things outside of a circular system that still make a product more sustainable, and we need to be specific about those processes whether it’s dyeing, low water processes, or other aspects even if they’re not strictly circular.

TexSPACE Today: How would you explain what Accelerating Circularity does?

Karla Magruder: At Accelerating Circularity, we often say we’re a “do tank” – meaning we get things done. We’re a nonprofit, so the work we do is for the public good.

“Our mission is pretty straightforward: to build circular systems that take used textiles and turn them into new raw materials. Whether it’s post-consumer or post-industrial materials, rather than seeing them go to landfill or incineration, we want those materials to become a new raw material for a new product. That’s really the crux of what we do.”

The way we do it is through programs where we bring the entire system or as much of it as possible to the table. All the players required to create this new system. That table looks different depending on your goals: Are you working with post-consumer or post-industrial materials? What’s the location? What are the capabilities? So, we bring the right people together, and we facilitate the process of understanding what needs to be done to create, develop, and scale these systems.

TexSPACE Today: What was that moment for you when you realized the industry really needed a more collaborative approach to recycling and circular system?

Karla Magruder: I was at a trade show for the outdoor and technical textiles industry, a space where people are generally more technically astute about the supply chain than, say, ready-to-wear. And this was when people first started using the term circularity, and everyone was throwing it around loosely.

“Oh, I have a recycled fiber, it’s circular.But just because you have a recycled fiber does not mean you have a circular system.”

So, I started talking to my peers and said, hey, we need the industry to really understand what circularity is. That’s where we decided to bring everybody together – get people aligned on definitions, educate the industry, and figure out who needs to be at the table. It grew from a need, and from others who felt the same way.

But beyond that initial collaboration, you also have to identify the gaps and connections as you go. When we first started, we had some of the players but that number has grown considerably, because as you start to understand the system, you realize how many people actually need to be part of it.

We often say nobody can do this alone. A lot of people think – “I’m a brand, I have a recycler, I have a fabric mill, I’m set. It’s not enough. There are too many pieces that still need to fit together that a small vertical supply chain simply can’t fix.”

TexSPACE Today: What kind of changes have you seen in how brands and manufacturers look at sustainability or circularity? And what would be the role of brand on recycling or circularity?

Karla Magruder: Brands have two really important and impactful roles in the system.

The first is demand. Without brand demand, the system simply doesn’t function, all parts have to work together, and demand is the fuel that keeps it moving. Equal to that, if you don’t have good quality recycling or collecting, it also breaks down. But brand demand is what drives it.

The second is product design. The decisions a brand makes materials, trims, garment construction, volumes, all determine whether a product can actually be put back into a circular system. So, brands are really functioning at both ends: they have a heavy impact at the very beginning, and again at the very end.

TexSPACE Today: How do you see the potential for a circular system here in Bangladesh?

Karla Magruder: Bangladesh, as a major textile manufacturer, has a big asset ready – post-industrial materials. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Those materials need to be separated by fiber type and aggregated in volumes large enough to feed recyclers. We actually just did a project in Morocco where we created a training manual for exactly that how factories should separate and aggregate materials. It’s a critical step that can’t be overlooked.

So that’s a real strength for Bangladesh. Whether it also looks at post-consumer materials as feedstock is perhaps a second step. But alongside that, recycling technologies need to develop too. Mechanical recycling is already happening there, but more complex recycling processes – decisions need to be made about whether that happens in Bangladesh or whether Bangladesh functions more as a feedstock provider.

And then there’s policy. Sometimes you think you need new export policies, but existing policies within the country may already be an impediment. So, there’s a lot of research needed what are the capabilities on the ground, what materials are available, and what policies help or hurt the development of a circular system. All of those things determine whether and how a system can function in Bangladesh.

TexSPACE Today: Are there any plan of accelerating circularity to work in Bangladesh?

Karla Magruder: Each country is different in terms of what they can offer and how we end up working there. Right now, we’re not working in Bangladesh and that’s mostly driven by the supply chains or brands we’re currently working with. But if that demand came, it’s absolutely something we’d be open to.

What we’re finding is that brands are very interested in understanding whether circularity is possible in the countries where they do a lot of their sourcing. Bangladesh, much like Morocco, would be a strong candidate for post-industrial materials work. But we need that push from brands, from supply chains, or from governments that want to build those opportunities. That’s really what drives where we go next.