New impact venture Syre launches with a mission to decarbonize textile industry

STOCKHOLM – March 6, 2024. Initiated by Vargas and H&M Group, Syre today launches to decarbonize and dewaste the textile industry through textile-to-textile recycling at hyperscale, starting with polyester. Supported by an industry ground-breaking offtake supply agreement with H&M Group, Syre will establish multiple production plants producing circular polyester across the globe, reducing CO2e emissions by up to 85% compared to the production of oil-based virgin polyester[1].

“Syre marks the start of the great textile shift. We envision a world where every textile fiber sees a new day. By implementing true textile-to-textile recycling at hyperscale, we want to drive the transition from a linear to a circular value chain by putting textile waste to use, over and over again,” says Dennis Nobelius, CEO of Syre.

Textile waste is a growing global challenge, with less than 1% of the global textile fiber market coming from recycled textiles[2]. The textile industry today accounts for 7-10% of global CO2e emissions[3], with polyester being the biggest emitter and fastest growing fiber. Virgin polyester, made from crude oil in refineries, and bottle-to-fiber recycled polyester (rPET), are both linear meaning the majority of all end-of-life products currently end up in landfills or being incinerated. The textile industry is now at a tipping point as the European Union and other actors are introducing legislation that will regulate waste and accelerate demand for circular materials.

“Having been creating and scaling companies that enable the green transition for an entire industry, I am extremely excited to be part of founding Syre. As a plug and play solution into the existing textile value chain, Syre will be key in enabling delivery on ambitious sustainability targets for all polyester intense industries such as apparel, automotive, and home interior”, says Susanna Campbell, Chair of the board and co-founder of Syre.

Syre is founded by H&M Group, the global fashion and design company, and Vargas, who has a proven track-record of building impact companies such as Northvolt, H2 Green Steel and Aira. In addition to this, TPG Rise Climate, the dedicated climate investing strategy of global alternative asset manager TPG, has joined as a founding investor with a substantial investment, bringing extensive experience scaling climate solutions globally and in companies focused on the circular economy.

H&M Group has secured an offtake agreement with Syre worth a total of USD 600 million over 7 years, covering a significant share of H&M Group’s long-term need for recycled polyester, which is currently primarily sourced from bottle-to-fiber (rPET).

"The new venture Syre is an important next step on H&M Group’s journey to integrate circularity across our business. With this solution to rapidly scale textile-to-textile recycling, we want to continue to drive and inspire more industry players to join us in closing the loop and accelerating the shift towards a more sustainable future”, says Daniel Ervér, CEO of H&M Group.

Syre will provide textile-to-textile circular polyester (cPET), with quality on par with oil-based virgin polyester and with a superior sustainability performance, reducing CO2e emissions by up to 85%. Its first production plant is being built in North Carolina, USA, and will be operational during 2024. Based on this blueprint, the manufacturing process will be rapidly scaled for global expansion, starting with Asia and Europe. Within ten years, Syre aspires to have 12 gigascale plants up and running at full speed and capacity worldwide, producing more than 3 million metric tons (MT) of circular polyester. The platform is agnostic and could expand into other fibers and technologies in the future.

In connection to the launch, Syre calls out for collaboration and partnerships across industries and the full value chain in order to jointly drive the textile shift and enable a healthy future of textiles.

Contact:
Emma Stjernlöf, Syre
E-mail: emma.stjernlof@syre.com

About Syre

Syre is a textile impact company on a mission to decarbonize and dewaste the textile industry through textile-to-textile recycling at hyperscale, starting with polyester. At unprecedented speed and scale, Syre aims at driving the green shift of the textile industry to a future where every textile fiber sees a new day. The company’s textile-to-textile recycling solution provides circular polyester with quality on par with virgin polyester, but with a superior sustainability performance. Founded in 2023, Syre is initiated by Vargas and H&M Group. The name translates to oxygen in Swedish and is a combination of sy (Swedish for sewing) and re (Latin for over and over again).

For more information: www.syre.com

About Vargas Holding

Vargas is a long-term investor and an active owner of purpose-led companies. Together with bold entrepreneurs, Vargas build companies from the ground up to realize ideas that push boundaries for a sustainable future. Vargas was founded in 2014 in Sweden. The company has started with green batteries, steel, hydrogen and clean energy-tech solutions. Polarium, Northvolt, H2 Green Steel and Aira are its first impact companies – all with the aim to establish regional or global leadership.

For more information: www.vargasholding.com

About H&M Group

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is quoted on Nasdaq Stockholm. H&M’s business idea is to offer fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way. In addition to H&M, the group includes the brands COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories, H&M HOME, ARKET, Afound and Sellpy. H&M Group makes long-term investments in entrepreneur-led companies working with solutions for a circular and more sustainable fashion industry.

For more information: hmgroup.com

About TPG Rise Climate
TPG Rise Climate is the dedicated climate investing strategy of TPG’s $19 billion global impact investing platform TPG Rise. TPG Rise Climate pursues climate-related investments that benefit from the diverse skills of TPG’s investing professionals, the strategic relationships developed across TPG’s existing portfolio of climate-focused companies, and a global network of executives and advisors. The fund takes a broad-based sector approach to investment types, from growth equity to value-added infrastructure, and focuses on climate solutions in the following thematic areas: clean electrons, clean molecules and materials, and negative emissions. Jim Coulter, TPG Founding Partner and Executive Chairman, serves as Managing Partner of TPG Rise Climate. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson serves as TPG Rise Climate’s Executive Chairman.

For more information: www.therisefund.com/tpgriseclimate