"Our vision is to free humanity from textile waste."
Gong Dong-hwan, head of Textaily, explained the corporations vision this way. Textaily, founded in 2024, chemically separates waste textiles and revives them as new raw materials. Gong discovered the used-clothing market, which was outdated but large in scale, when considering a startup, and then entered technology development with a co-founder. One patent has been registered and confirmed, and eight patents have been filed.
Gong said, "Blended fabrics that mix polyester and cotton have been almost impossible to recycle so far," and noted, "With our self-developed 'polymer targeted extraction' technology, we selectively separate only the needed materials from mixed fibers and use them as single raw materials."
The reclaimed raw materials can be recycled into clothing or fashion materials. The company has already begun small-batch trial production of apparel with a major fashion brand. Textaily's business model is relatively well known in Europe, centered on the United Kingdom, but it is said that in Asia, Textaily is the first to possess chemical fiber separation technology and attempt commercialization based on it.
Gong said, "We are operating a pilot-scale plant, and we aim to secure annual production capacity of 300 tons by 2026," adding, "Most of our current employees are research and development (R&D) staff, and former vice presidents of LOTTE Chemical and SK geocentric are leading technology development."
Starting with 600 million won in seed investment last year, Textaily secured a total of 2.5 billion won in funding within five months of incorporation, including the TIPS program, a private investment-led technology startup support program. The company projected its first sales of 150 million won in the second half of this year.
The company is still at a stage of focusing more on technology development than on sales. Starting next year, it plans to kick off full-fledged discussions on supplying to major corporate brands along with commercialization preparations. Gong projected that the textile recycling industry will grow explosively as policies change.
Gong said, "Europe is already implementing an extended producer responsibility system for textiles," and predicted, "Related bills are being discussed in Korea, and if this system is introduced, the market will open up significantly."
Gong added, "If you do 'downcycling,' which recycles waste into other materials with lower quality or functionality than the original, you end up with a structure where it is recycled once and that's it," and said, "We aim to build a recycling ecosystem that can circulate infinitely by making textiles into textiles again."
High-quality recycled products have demanding production processes and high expense, so their price range tends to be high. Gong projected that, as in the petrochemical industry, economies of scale could offset the high prices.
Gong's view is that as the market grows along with policy, economic viability can also be secured. In Korea, statistics related to waste textiles are insufficient and policy support is lacking, so if these are supplemented, there is ample room for the market size to grow.
Gong said, "Europe is already implementing related systems, and Korea is close to introducing them," adding, "Now is the most fitting time for market entry." He went on to say, "With plant completion in 2026 and full-scale mass production in 2027, we will establish ourselves as a leading corporations in the textile recycling market."