Lululemon, Etam, and Michelin team up to fund the future of recycled nylon A new funding round has raised $30 million
At a time when the fashion industry is desperately trying to shed its reputation as an ultra-polluter, discussions around circularity often collide with a harsh technical reality. Behind the marketing promises of eco-friendly capsule collections lies an open secret: we still do not know how to efficiently recycle our clothes at scale. It is precisely this status quo that French start-up Syntetica is looking to disrupt.
By announcing a $30 million Series A funding round, the French newcomer has pulled off a major feat, bringing together apparel giants, deep-tech champions, and state-backed investors. Led by Bpifrance’s Ecotechnologies 2 fund (backed by the France 2030 sovereign investment plan), the round saw participation from Lululemon, textile manufacturing titan MAS Holdings, Swen Capital Partners, early-stage investor EQT Ventures, as well as prominent family offices linked to Peugeot, Etam, and the majority shareholder of Indorama Ventures.
To understand the investors' enthusiasm, one must dive into textile chemistry. In 2024, global nylon production neared an astronomical 7 million tons (according to Textile Exchange’s Materials Market Report). Yet, recycled nylon accounts for a measly 2% of the global market. Why such a massive gap? Until now, almost all existing recycling technologies required the different variants of the fiber to be separated beforehand. To be processed, Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6 had to be meticulously sorted. This is a complex, costly, and sometimes impossible task when the fibers are intimately blended within the same garment. This is where Syntetica's breakthrough comes in. Founded by Marco Bertone (CEO) and Louis Monsigny, the start-up has developed and patented a chemical process capable of treating Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6 simultaneously in a single step. No more sorting through mountains of post-consumer waste: the technology ingests the blend and outputs a high-value raw material.
Speaking to WWD, Marco Bertone explained: "For decades, mixed nylon waste has been considered too complex and too expensive to recycle at scale. We have shown that it is possible to recover high-value materials from the waste streams the industry has historically written off."
The fresh capital will fund a crucial step: moving from theory to industrial reality. Syntetica will build its very first commercial demonstration facility in France. To do this, the start-up is setting up shop in a historic engineering hub by partnering with Michelin's Centre for Sustainable Materials in Clermont-Ferrand.
This strategic partnership is designed to propel the technology out of the lab to reach an initial processing capacity of several hundred tons of textile waste per year. It's a scale-up that is already drawing close attention from major brands like Victoria’s Secret and Etam, which are already collaborating with the start-up to test the viability of these regenerated fibers in their upcoming collections. Long-term, the start-up has no intention of limiting itself to activewear or fine lingerie. Its technological platform has been designed to adapt to other polymers and applications, opening the door to the automotive industry (car interiors, plastic parts) and specialty chemicals.
As Europe tightens its regulations on traceability and end-of-life consumer products, Syntetica’s success confirms a heavy trend: the future of sustainable fashion won’t just be written in Parisian design studios, but in chemistry labs and regional recycling facilities.