Through a series of strategic partnerships with major Chinese manufacturers and binding offtake agreements with international fashion brands, the company aims to rapidly transform polyester textile waste into a mainstream resource.
Strategic alliances in China
Recognising that scaling circular materials requires deep manufacturing expertise and vast production capacity, Ambercycle has secured four pivotal partnerships in China’s textile heartland within the first six months of 2025. Each collaboration targets a specific facet of integrating the company’s molecular regeneration technology into large-scale fibre production.
In January 2025, Ambercycle announced two key partnerships in China. On January 7th, Shenghong Holding Group committed to integrating Cycora into its bottle-to-fibre lines, leveraging its 600,000 tons per annum recycled polyester capacity—currently the world’s largest—at plants in Suzhou and Suqian in China. This move will mainstream Cycora in China’s textile supply chain for global apparel brands. A day later, on January 8th, Ambercycle secured a deal with Benma Group, one of the top three global producers of recycled polyester staple fibre, to expand Cycora into knits, nonwovens and fillings. Benma also took an equity stake to support Ambercycle’s scale-up, with the company’s chairman Xu Guoliang calling it a step towards decarbonised polyester and circular materials in China’s value chain.
Subsequently On February 26th, Ambercycle announced its partnership with Zhejiang Huilong New Materials, a dope-dyed yarn specialist. Under the agreement, Ambercycle will supply Cycora, which Huilong will spin into dope-dyed yarns in China and Indonesia, introducing low-impact, closed-loop fibres. Huilong’s process reduces energy, water use, and pollution compared to traditional dyeing by adding colour during polymer melting. The deal includes a $5 million strategic investment from Huilong to expand textile-to-textile dope-dyed polyester capacity.
However, Ambercycle’s most recent and expansive deal came in April with Highsun Holding Group (HSCC)—a strategic partnership to industrialise closed-loop synthetics. The collaboration covers textile recycling, material production and sustainability standards, aiming to reduce reliance on virgin materials. HSCC is self-described as “the world’s largest caprolactam producer” and a major nylon/polyester supplier.
Anchoring demand
Complementing these supply-side advancements, Ambercycle has secured concrete demand through long-term offtake agreements with prominent fashion brands, providing crucial market validation and production stability.
A significant commitment was already established in late 2023 from global retail giant Inditex, the owner of Zara. Inditex signed a three-year, €70+ (~$82.5+) million agreement to purchase Ambercycle’s regenerated polyester, covering 70 per cent of the output from Ambercycle’s first commercial plant. The deal supports the facility’s construction and scaling of its molecular recycling technology, with production set to begin around 2025 and integration into Inditex collections through 2027. Inditex chief sustainability officer Javier Losada called the partnership key to advancing the brand’s sustainability goals, including sourcing 25 per cent of fibres from next-gen materials like textile-to-textile recycled polyester by 2030.
Systemic shift
Ambercycle’s patented process chemically breaks down polyester waste into purified PET, then repolymerises it into Cycora pellets—delivering virgin-like quality with less than half the carbon footprint of conventional polyester. Unlike mechanical recycling, this method avoids material degradation.
The company’s first commercial plant, backed by a $10 million investment from Taiwan’s Shinkong Synthetic Fibers, is set to launch in 2026.
Ambercycle’s ecosystem connects its regeneration technology with major Chinese fibre producers—Shenghong, Benma, Huilong, Highsun—to convert pellets into yarns, while brand partnerships (Inditex, Ganni, MAS, Reformation) ensure market demand. The global nature of the apparel manufacturing supply chain is far from over, despite attempts in 2025 to change it…
ALCHEMPro News Desk (IL)
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