Blended Textile Recycling

Blended textile recycling is creating new pathways for recovering materials from fabrics that conventional recycling systems struggle to process. Seattle-based Ravel has raised $8.2 million in seed funding to advance its Purification Recycling technology, which separates complex blends such as polyester-elastane into high-purity mono-material feedstocks. The company uses non-destructive, low-energy processes and designs its recovered materials to integrate directly into existing textile manufacturing systems.

Ravel's approach addresses a major obstacle for textile recyclers because blended fibers do not need to be separated into pure waste streams before entering its process. This feedstock flexibility could reduce sorting complexity and processing costs while expanding the amount of textile waste suitable for recovery. For manufacturers and fashion brands, drop-in recycled materials could make circular production easier to adopt without requiring major supply chain changes. The funding will help Ravel move beyond its Seattle pilot plant toward commercial-scale operations and industry validation.