Los Angeles-based Ambercycle has announced two new strategic partnerships with major Chinese manufacturers to accelerate the growth of its cycora textile-to-textile regenerated polyester.

Shenghong Chemical Fiber will now scale up high-quality regenerated filament yarns using cycora raw materials and Benma will do the same for staple fibres.

Shenghong Holding Group, which in 2023 ranked 171st in the Fortune Global 500, has two polyester production bases in Suzhou and Suqian with annual production capacity of 3.6 million tons. Its recycled PET bottle polyester fibre production capacity is currently approximately 600,000 tons per year, ranking it first in the world. Shenghong is equipped with the world’s most advanced direct melt spinning technology and is establishing a fully integrated carbon capture fibre supply chain.

Benma, headquartered in Hangzhou, has an annual capacity of more than 180,000 tons of polyester and is a supplier to many international fast fashion and home textile brands.

Benma’s direct investment in Ambercycle’s scale-up efforts further reinforces a shared commitment to accelerating the transition to circular textile solutions.

By unlocking new opportunities for circular materials within the Chinese value chain, these partnerships address the growing global demand for sustainable fibres.

“As the industry adopts textile-to-textile solutions, cycora is leading the way in delivering materials that meet the demands of global brands,” said Jason Tang, general manager of Shenghong Chemical Fiber. “Our partnership is pivotal in driving scalable, impactful change across the apparel sector.”

“Ambercycle has proven to be a leader in advancing circular solutions and we are proud to collaborate with them to scale this groundbreaking innovation,” added Benma chairman Xu Guoliang. “Decarbonized polyester is essential for driving the sustainability of our industry. This partnership enhances our ability to deliver a broader range of high-quality, circular fibres, empowering our global brand partners to meet their sustainability goals.”

Regenerated polymers

Ambercycle is one of only a handful of companies with technologies to produce pure chemical polyester polymers via molecular regeneration, rather than taking synthetic fibres right back to the chemical monomers they are composed of.

In August 2024, Shinkong Synthetic Fibers, a global polyester manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, announced a strategic $10 million investment in Ambercycle’s first commercial plant for producing its cycora polyester made from post-industrial and post-consumer polyester waste textiles.

In June 2024, Hyosung became the first manufacturer in South Korea to introduce Ambercycle’s cycora into supply chains and in the same month, MAS Holdings, a global apparel manufacturing and tech conglomerate headquartered in Sri Lanka, negotiated a three-year off-take agreement for cycora.

Previous to this, in October 2023, Inditex, the Spanish owner of the leading Zara brand, also formed a strategic partnership with Ambercycle. As part of the agreement, Inditex signed a three-year agreement to buy a significant portion of the annual production of  cycora with a value of more than €70 million.

“With these new partnerships, we’re not just scaling production, we’re driving the adoption of circular materials across the apparel industry at the pace necessary to meet the growing demand,” said Ambercycle CEO Shay Sethi.

www.ambercycle.com