Launched today by Fashion for Good, Stretching Circularity is a bold new initiative tackling one of the industry’s most stubborn sustainability blockers: elastane—the comfort fibre found in 80% of clothing, but notorious for sabotaging textile recycling.
By testing bio-based and recycled elastane alternatives through pilot-scale trials and sleek “demonstrator” t-shirts, the project aims to turn this recycling contaminant into a circular fashion essential.
“Lower-impact elastane solutions exist, but they lack the pilot-scale validation brands need to scale them confidently,” said Katrin Ley, Managing Director at Fashion for Good.
Backed by major players including Levi Strauss & Co (Beyond Yoga), On, Reformation, and Paradise Textiles, the initiative is set to prove that sustainability can still stretch—without snapping.
