Sustainability
Debrand Opens First U.S. Textile Sorting Plant in Ohio
Debrand, pioneers of next-life logistics solutions for the apparel and footwear industry, announced the opening of their first U.S. facility in Columbus, Ohio.
This strategic location enhances the company's capacity to meet the increasing demand for scalable advanced textile sortation services, expanding its innovative circular textile ecosystem that serves as North America's most comprehensive textile sustainability and circularity hub. Situated in a thriving fashion and apparel industry mecca, Debrand's 32,000-square-foot facility has been designed to support brands in integrating sustainability and circularity models that align with impending regulatory compliance using future-proof sortation technology and cutting-edge machinery.
"The fashion industry is well beyond its tipping point with textile waste. The sheer volume of garments produced each year is becoming insurmountable, and there simply aren't enough regional solutions to address this issue at the scale required in North America," said Amelia Eleiter, CEO and Co-founder at Debrand.
"By expanding our footprint, we're making the investments necessary to move the industry towards a more responsible future. Not only will this help us address our current challenges with pre-and post-consumer waste, but we're also future-proofing so that once regulations pass and our clients are faced with new operational realities, we're ready to support them in lockstep to create the most impactful systems of sustainability and circularity possible."
With the emergence of the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bills in major U.S. markets, the urgency for infrastructure investment to support the circular economy for textile waste has never been greater.
The facility strives to mirror the success of the company's facility in Canada, housing a fusion of automated textile sortation technology and equipment. This integration empowers scalable textile sortation, increasing capacity and capabilities to meet the growing demands of Debrand's next-life logistics services and solutions.
"We are thrilled that Debrand is opening a new facility in our hometown," said Meghan McLane, Director, Product Sustainability at Victoria's Secret. "As our partner, Debrand has been instrumental in advancing our end-of-life garment program. This facility is another step in building the infrastructure needed in North America to enable brands to move towards more circular models."
In November 2022, Debrand received a strategic investment from WM, North America's largest environmental solutions provider. It was the first investment made by WM in textile recycling. The new U.S. facility aligns the company with WM and its operations across North America.
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Wes Baker, co-founder of Debrand, and Amelia Eleiter, CEO and co-founder of Debrand. Photo: Debrand
With access to the city's top-tier talent, markets, and resources, the new facility is poised to fuel Debrand's ongoing growth trajectory and success within the fashion and apparel sector. The company remains committed to providing consulting services, offering guidance on circular textile strategies that encompass technical knowledge, reuse and recycling expertise, and next-life logistics. In the last 18 months, Debrand has diverted over 4.5 million pounds of textile waste from landfill.
"Debrand's expansion is a promising evolution for advancing the fashion industry's textile circularity within the North American market, and the technologies including Digital Product Passports (DPPs) like EON's own Digital IDs-that have been a crucial element in regulatory compliance in the EU," said Natasha Franck, CEO and Founder at EON. "Their expertise and insights were instrumental in shaping our own research for scaling circular systems. With such a deep understanding of textile waste management, along with their longstanding commitment to sustainability, Debrand is providing critical contributions that will help North America develop practical and scalable solutions to unlock its circular fashion economy."
About DebrandDebrand is North America's most comprehensive textile sustainability and circularity hub for top apparel brands like Everlane, lululemon, Aritzia, and Canada Goose. Founded in 2008, Debrand takes a holistic ecosystem approach to next-life logistics by combining in-house tech-enabled sortation with expert solution partnerships, delivering the highest impact possible at scale in reuse, recycling, responsible disposal, and circular textile innovations. Based in Canada with facilities across the United States, Debrand aims to propel the textile industry's sustainable future, finding ways to optimize the planet's finite resources by unlocking the potential in untapped products. To learn more about our work and impact, visit debrand.ca.Source: Debrand