Loopamid shows a path to circular nylon made from post consumer waste
A prominent textile player is elevating sustainability claims by delivering credible messaging to major brands. Inditex and BASF announced a breakthrough this week with a new textile material named Loopamid. This material marks the first nylon produced entirely from post consumer textile waste, turning discarded fibers into high quality polyamide 6. The technology converts nylon 6 textiles into fibers and products that match the quality of virgin material, offering brands a practical route to a transparent circular story. The Loopamid process operates across European, Asian, and North American production facilities for polyamide 6.
Inditex, via its Zara label, demonstrated a jacket crafted completely from Loopamid fabric. The garment represents a full circular solution for nylon apparel made entirely from textile waste, aiming to blend a pristine sustainability image with solid business value. Every component of the jacket—from fabric and buttons to padding, Velcro, and zippers—uses Loopamid material.
The shift toward circularity is a central pillar of a broader industry strategy. BASF plans to double its sales tied to circular economy solutions to 17 billion euros by 2030, emphasizing circular raw materials, next generation materials, and new business models as the three primary growth avenues in this field.
Inditex has set a bold objective to ensure that 100 percent of its textile products originate from materials with a lower environmental footprint by 2030. As part of this plan, the Galician group aims for 25 percent of its textile fibers to come from cutting edge materials not yet produced at industrial scale, 40 percent from recycled sources, and 25 percent from fibers derived from organic farming.
Loopamid, in partnership with BASF, offers an innovative way to boost circularity in fashion and to recycle polyamide 6 textiles. Its chemistry accepts blends such as PA6 with elastane, enabling both post industrial and post consumer textiles to be recycled back into textile to textile outputs. The resulting fibers and materials can be recycled multiple times while maintaining properties on par with virgin polyamide.
Processes
The Loopamid approach extends beyond Inditex. Initiatives like ModaRe, a clothing collection program run by Caritas, sort discarded textiles into new raw materials. Italian firm RadiciGroup has explored converting Loopamid polymer into various thread types with distinct properties. Global players such as YKK and Velcro have contributed by using Loopamid to manufacture plastic elements for zippers, snaps, and hook and loop fasteners. Partners like Uniter, Tessitura Vignetta, Freudenberg, and Gütermann helped develop additional garment components such as internal labels, padding, and sewing threads using Loopamid.
Javier Losada, sustainability director at Inditex, describes Loopamid as the initial step toward a circular solution while stressing the need to expand collection and recycling capacities to close the loop and scale post consumer waste recycling. Ramkumar Dhruva, head of BASF’s Monomers division, notes that the Inditex jacket demonstrates that circularity is achievable and supports ongoing efforts to advance the textile sector’s sustainable transformation.