Circular textiles firm Debrand receives strategic investment from WM

Debrand, a provider of “reverse logistics” textile solutions, has announced that WM, an environmental solutions firm, has made a strategic investment in its textile recycling.

The North American investor hopes to use Debrand’s know-how and technology to give its customers new textile recycling options and offer circular solutions throughout the area.

Reverse logistics are the company’s primary focus, according to Vancouver-based Debrand, which already counts Canadian clothing brands Lululemon, Canada Goose, and Everlane among its clients.

Amelia Eleiter, co-founder of Debrand, said that they work with their customers to unlock the highest value for their products by prolonging the items’ life through reuse or recycling. WM’s investment will not only enable them to scale up the integration of their solutions across North America, but it will also enable them to enable both new and existing customers to run lucrative and efficient circular systems.

Debrand expects to prevent up to 1,000 tons of discarded textiles from ending up in landfills this year through channels for resale, recycling, and repurposing (a 125% increase year over year). The WM investment helps expedite Debrand’s ambitions to expand its operations, capabilities, customer network, and team in support of both current and prospective clients while maintaining the company’s reputation for best-in-class solutions, quality, and customer service.

The investment helps expedite the company’s ambitions to expand its operations, capabilities, customer network, and workforce in support of both current and potential new customers, according to the press release.

It continued by saying that as businesses adapt to climate change and the shift to a circular economy, they anticipate “substantial demand and growth” for their solutions.

To increase sustainability potential and efficiency, Debrand’s solution centers on classifying, identifying, and allocating finite resources to their highest-value channels.

ric Dixon, vice president of sustainability and environmental solutions at WM, said that their clients are searching for ways to decrease waste from their operations, improve their sustainability reporting, and speed up the transition to a circular economy. In response, WM is making ongoing adjustments to satisfy these objectives and develop into a true sustainability partner for our customers.

Dixon added that as a result of their collaboration with Debrand, they have come to appreciate the tremendous value of their cutting-edge textile allocation technology, which has allowed them to improve sorting and divert the textile waste of their clients from landfills into circular solutions. The United States produces over 17 million tons of used textile waste yearly, and their investment in Debrand will help scale and quickly expand textile solutions and innovation across North America.