The material innovation space was fraught over the last year, with surprising shutdowns and complex collaborations. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Keel Labs, for one, celebrated several wins in 2024.
The North Carolina-based firm formerly known as AlgiKnit teamed with Outerknown on a seaweed-centric iteration of the SoCal brand’s best-selling Blanket Shirt in August—marking the first commercial launch of Keel’s flagship fiber, Kelsun.
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The biomaterials company creating ocean-focused materials built from renewable resources (reportedly) increased production of Kelsun 10 times over.
This led to partnerships like the Mr. Bailey collaboration on the Starboard Vest (50 percent cotton and 50 percent seaweed-based yarn) in May as well as the Kelp Chair, a 3D-printed piece by Interesting Times Gang (ITG) Studios made using Kelsun’s seaweed-derived woven material in April. Plus, Stella McCartney featured Keel Labs—for the second time—on the SS25 runway in October, set to release next spring.
And these moves made waves. Textile Exchange awarded Kelsun the “Innovation of the Year” during its 2024 Climate and Nature Impact Awards in late October. This particular award goes to projects demonstrating “out-of-the-box” approaches to reducing the industry’s aforementioned oil addiction. Closer to home, the Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability hit Keel Labs with the Distinguished Entrepreneurial Business in Sustainability Award in May. Bestowed by UNC-Chapel Hill students, the award honors North Carolina innovators for their sustainability initiatives.
“Over the past 12 months, Kelsun went from a product in development to a product featured on a runway, and then to products that were sold in stores,” Aleks Gosiewski, Keel Labs’ co-founder and COO, told Sourcing Journal. “Over the next 12 months, we are looking to scale responsibly and bring our technologies to even broader markets.”
Meanwhile, molecular regeneration technology company Ambercycle rose through the ranks throughout 2024.
In June, MAS Holdings entered into a three-year offtake agreement with Ambercycle to scale textile-to-textile regeneration. The partnership will see the Sri Lanka conglomerate use the Los Angeles-based material sciences company’s regenerated polyester, Cycora, to boost production capabilities.
In October, Ambercycle and Reformation joined forces to debut the materials science startup’s Cycora in key pieces of the It Girl brand’s latest collection—signaling the start of the duo’s ongoing partnership. The collection, intended to complement Ref’s jewelry collaboration with designer Clare Waight Keller and “evoke the glamour” of the 1920s, centers around “evening-appropriate” garments. Cycora polyester—a high-performance material made from discarded textiles—will be incorporated into the pieces.
In March, Athleta announced its plans to be the first performance apparel brand to use Ambercycle’s Cycora at scale. Starting in 2026, the Gap-owned brand will leverage the regenerated polyester in Athleta products. The company said it’s still “very early in the process” regarding the partnership and was unable to provide any additional details regarding how Cycora will be utilized.
“As 2024 draws to a close, one thing is crystal clear: impact is our north star. Through Cycora, we’re reducing textile waste, decarbonizing supply chains, and moving the world closer to a future where circularity isn’t just an aspiration—it’s the norm,” Ambercycle shared in a blog post. “The best way to predict the future is to build it. It’s built by those willing to innovate, challenge the status quo, and commit to making it better. 2025 will be a year of breakthroughs, growth and impact.”
Revoltech, too, celebrated milestones made tangible.
The German startup’s flagship offering, LOVR, won the Green Product Award for best new material in May. In April, Revoltech picked up the Techtextil Innovation Award, which was recognized in the “New Concept” category during Messe Frankfurt. In October, the leather alternative firm snagged the German Design Award 2025 for “Excellent Product Design: Materials and Surfaces.”
In November, Revoltech launched MATTR: an algae-based, biodegradable material that complements the hemp-based LOVR offering. The partnership with Les Mains Bleues, a global denim supply chain operator, followed—as did the German Farm Start-up Award by Innovate.
In terms of partnerships, Revoltech collaborated with ID Genève Watches in July, kicked off a project with Volkswagen in August and teamed with Husarska Design Studio at Dutch Design Week in October.
Of note is Revoltech’s presence. From Heimtextil in January and Stiftung Entrepreneurship in March to Techtextil in April and Outdoor by ISPO in June, the material innovator got around. December was particularly packed with Circular Republic, ISPO and GPCA Nexus.
In terms of funding, Revoltech received a Start-up Grant from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rentenbank as well as the Push! Grant from Hessen’s Ministry of Economics. The TU Darmstadt spin-off was also granted funding for the KMUi-BÖ08 project, awarded Up2Circ funding to drive circular material development and secured a FEiU grant for new research projects.
“2024 was a year of milestones, from launching a new material to building collaborations that opened new possibilities,” co-founder and CEO Lucas Fuhrmann told Sourcing Journal. “As we move into 2025, we’re excited for what’s ahead—a year filled with projects that will take our work to the next level.”
As noted by Fuhrmann, collaboration was of note for the next-gen space at large.
In July, a consortium of seven global companies jointly established what it claims is a “world-first” supply chain for more sustainable polyester. According to Finland-based energy company Neste, the partners—which includes project owner Goldwin, chemical manufacturer SK Geocentric, sustainable petrochemical firm Indorama Ventures and green chemists India Glycols, among others—will use renewable and bio-based materials, as well as carbon capture and utilization, in manufacturing polyester fibers for The North Face in Japan.
In June, Textile-to-textile recycler Circ launched the Circ-Ready community: an exclusive group of global supply chain partners who have demonstrated their ability to utilize Circ materials.
In October, a multi-brand consortium dropped a not-so-plain-white-tee made entirely from textile waste by using a new biorecycling technology developed by Carbios. Using enzymes, the French firm’s tech broke down the polyester into its fundamental building blocks to become biorecycled polyester, with quality allegedly on par with its virgin counterpart. The consortium—comprised of Puma, Patagonia and PVH Corp, among others—exists to advance the textile sector’s shift toward a circular economy by developing and industrializing Carbios’ enzymatic depolymerization technology to achieve 100 percent fiber-to-fiber recycling.
Fiber Forward
In April, traceability technology purveyor Aware dropped Polylana, a versatile, traceable and 100 percent recyclable fiber. The Amsterdam-based brand announced the launch of an enhanced version of its vegan fiber with the sustainable and recycled content going up from 50 percent to 90 percent.
In January, Under Armour dropped an eco-conscious, recyclable stretch fiber. The athleticwear brand teamed with chemicals company Celanese Corp. to develop a more sustainable alternative to spandex, addressing a longtime concern of consumers and activewear brands alike. The fiber for performance stretch fabrics, dubbed NeoLast, has the potential to be recycled—something the industry has yet to tackle successfully.
In April, Fibe, the developer of the first textile fiber from potato harvest waste, completed its first investment round and a “breakthrough milestone” in creating yarn from its proprietary fibers.
Lycra and Qore teamed on bio-derived spandex. The resulting Qira is 100 percent biobased, as the feedstock comes from renewable dent corn (also known as industrial corn) that is not produced for human consumption. This corn is grown in a 100-mile radius of Qore’s facility in south central Iowa—the Corn Belt—sourced chiefly from individual farmers.
In February, Lululemon unveiled a first-of-its-kind recycled nylon. The Stand.earth foe teamed with Samsara Eco, an Australian startup that uses enzyme-based technology to recycle plastics, to create what the duo has described as the world’s first infinitely recycled nylon 6.6 and polyester from textile waste.
In April, Lululemon launched the Packable Anorak: the brand’s first product made with enzymatically recycled polyester, created in partnership with Samsara Eco. The limited edition jacket features polyester made from a “combination of bioprocessing technologies,” including Samsara’s enzyme-based recycling and LanzaTech’s captured carbon emissions. Samsara’s technology employs patented enzymes to break down synthetic blends, while LanzaTech converts carbon emissions from industrial facilities into polyester building blocks. When combined, these technologies achieve a new way to produce polyester.
Meanwhile, a new commercially compostable polyester debuted at Premiere Vision Paris. Celys, the result of six-plus years of R&D, was produced to tackle microplastic pollution and other ecological issues tied to the textile industry.
“Unlike some spinning-additive-based polyesters on the market, Celys fiber’s biodegradability starts from its proprietary ingredient formula for polymerization,” Helen Weng, the company’s sales director, told Sourcing Journal at the time. “By introducing a third chemical monomer to participate in the polymerization process, we successfully created easy break-down ester linkages in the polymer backbone. Thus, a new polyester was designed.”
