Danville, Virginia (October 08, 2026) — Circ® and Huafon, a leading spandex producer in China, are partnering to build and scale a new multi-phase textile-to-textile recycling site in China, expanding Circ's global pathway to industrial scale. The project will be located within Huafon's industrial footprint and will use Circ's technology to process polycotton textile waste and recycle both inputs, recovering recycled PTA, recycled MEG and recycled cellulosic pulp for use in new textiles. The site will be developed in phases, with Phase 1 designed for approximately 200 metric tons of textile waste per day and additional capacity planned.
The partnership brings together Circ's polycotton recycling technology with Huafon's manufacturing capabilities, infrastructure, and China market position. Huafon is also investing directly in the project alongside Circ and other selected investors. Huafon's engineering, procurement, logistics, and commercial experience provide an efficient path to industrial deployment. Circ brings an established network of global brands, textile manufacturing partners, and downstream customers ready to adopt the materials the platform produces.
“China is at the center of global textile production, making it a critical location for scaling textile-to-textile recycling. Huafon brings the industrial capabilities, experience, and investment to move quickly and build a platform that can scale well beyond this first site.”
Huafon is one of China's leading chemical and advanced materials companies and one of the world's largest spandex companies, with more than 30 years of experience in materials technology, innovation, and chemical manufacturing. Huafon has also demonstrated its ability to expand globally in advanced and sustainable materials through its acquisition of DuPont's former Biomaterials business, now Covation Biomaterials, giving the group established operations in Newark, Delaware, and Kinston, North Carolina, and global customers and commercial relationships outside China.
"Circ has developed one of the most promising textile-to-textile recycling technologies we have seen, and Huafon is ready to help bring it to market. By combining Circ's innovation with our industrial strength and investment, we can turn textile waste into high-quality materials at a scale the industry needs."
The project is closely aligned with China's broader industrial priorities. The 15th Five-Year Plan emphasizes circular-economy development, stronger waste recovery and reuse systems, greater use of high-quality recycled materials, green manufacturing, and lower-carbon production. China's broader materials strategy prioritizes areas including advanced polymers, high-performance fibers, and bio-based materials, creating additional alignment with Circ and Huafon's ambitions in circular textile materials.
As capacity is developed, Circ and Huafon will engage brands, supply-chain partners, and downstream buyers. The broader opportunity includes additional phases of capacity, downstream commercial activity, and a long-term platform for circular textile production serving both China and global markets.
ABOUT CIRC:
Circ is proving that textile recycling is scalable. With patented textile-to-textile recycling technology, Circ turns discarded polycotton blended fabric into high-quality, supply-chain ready materials. By separating and recovering polyester and cellulose from polycotton, Circ’s breakthrough technology is among the first market-tested solutions for one of the industry’s most common and least recyclable materials.
Headquartered in Danville, Virginia, with its first industrial-scale facility underway in France, Circ is building the infrastructure for a circular fashion economy at global scale. The company’s technology is backed by leading global investors and its materials, Circ® Lyocell and Circ® Polyester, are already in use through collaborations with leading brands spanning luxury through mass market.
Circ has been recognized internationally as an EarthshotPrize Finalist, Fast Company Most Innovative Company, BloombergNEF Pioneer, TIME100 Most Innovative Company, Inc. Best in Business, and a Certified B Corporation.
Learn more at www.circ.earth.
ABOUT HUAFON
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, Huafon Group is a leader in China’s polymer materials industry and one of China’s Top 500 Enterprises. It is also the world’s largest manufacturer of polyurethane materials. The Group controls 3 A-share listed companies, owns 7 national manufacturing single-item champion products, 1 Global Lighthouse Factory, 12 national-level green factories and green-design products, 20 national high-tech enterprises, and 23 provincial and national smart factories (digital workshops), with over 20,000 employees worldwide.
Over its 35-year development, Huafon has remained committed to the real economy and its core business, pursuing high-quality growth. Its business portfolio covers polyurethane, polyamide, bio-based materials, biodegradable plastics and the aluminum industry chain. It also engages in strategically emerging industries and modern services supporting its core operations, including digital intelligence, clean energy, financial investment, logistics and trading.
Huafon has established production bases, R&D institutions and sales offices across multiple Chinese provinces and municipalities including Zhejiang, Shanghai, Chongqing and Jiangsu, as well as countries along the Belt and Road such as Indonesia and Türkiye. It is dedicated to delivering cost-competitive products and integrated solutions for global customers.
Guided by its mission “Innovation for a Better Life” and core values of “shared goals, joint entrepreneurship, mutual benefits and common development”, Huafon advances toward high-end, digital-intelligent, low-carbon and internationalized development. Through continuous independent innovation, it promotes integrated industrial chain development, drives the transition from petroleum-based chemical materials to modern green materials such as bio-based, carbon-neutral, biodegradable and waterborne solvent-free materials. Its aluminum materials business expands into high-strength, corrosion-resistant, lightweight materials for new energy applications. The Group also coordinates industrial digitalization and digital industrialization, striving to become a world-class leader in new materials and achieve win-win growth together with customers, employees, suppliers and all stakeholders.