Recover, a leading producer of recycled cotton fibre and cotton fibre blends headquartered in Spain, has closed a new $100 million minority equity capital investment led by the Sustainable Investing business within Goldman Sachs, alongside majority shareholder Story3 Capital Partners.

Recover will use the investment to accelerate its global expansion and production capacity, allowing more rapid adoption of sustainability initiatives by leading brands and retailers. The company serves some of the largest and most recognisable retailers, brands and vendors in the world, including, among others, Primark, Inditex, C&A, Revolve and Lands’ End.

Recover’s proprietary recycled cotton fibre reduces the carbon and water intensity of the apparel supply chain, addressing the sector’s contribution to one of the world’s largest sources of environmental degradation. Recover estimates that the new investment places it on a path to increase its production to over 350,000 metric tons of recycled cotton fibre per year by 2026, saving up to five trillion litres of water annually and allowing for significant reductions of carbon emissions, energy and land use relative to conventional cotton fibre.

“Goldman Sachs is committed to partnering with innovative businesses that help drive sustainability,” said Letitia Webster, managing director and chief sustainability officer at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “Recover is a leading disruptor in the apparel and textiles space with much-needed sustainable solutions grounded in materials science. We’re excited to invest in its  growth to accelerate scaled production and the continued development of its technologies.”

As part of the transaction, Webster will join the board of directors of Recover.

“Recover has perfected the art and science of the scaled production of sustainable recycled cotton fibre over more than 70 years across multiple generations of the Ferre family in Spain,” added Ben Malka, operating partner at Story3.” Today, it offers a solution grounded in proprietary IP that provides cost-competitive, maximum-performance recycled cotton fibre for both rotor and ring-spinning applications.”

A growing number of customers are co-branding products with Recover to showcase that they have been produced with the company’s recycled cotton fibre. The company has already opened new manufacturing hubs in Pakistan and Bangladesh, with further additional hubs in Bangladesh and Vietnam due to open in the near term.

“For change to happen at scale across the fashion industry, we need partnership and collaboration with innovators like Recover,” said Lynne Walker, director of Primark Cares, Primark. “As we increase the use of Recover’s recycled cotton fibre in Primark products, this investment will enable us to meet our pledge to make more sustainable fashion affordable to millions of customers.”

www.recoverfiber.com