Recognised as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30, Karishma’s pioneering vision is connecting the dots for manufacturers, businesses, and recyclers, debunking the myth that textiles are not recyclable. From her company’s innovative digital textile passport to its matchmaking marketplace, she discusses how Eslando is making textile recycling easier than ever before – plus how governments can do their bit to help.
Karishma, can you tell us what inspired you to launch Eslando, and how did you identify the need for a textile recycling solution with such detailed transparency?
My family had a recycling business growing up, but it was only when I began working as a textiles engineer that I started to question how wasteful the industry was. That prompted me to go on a quest to create a system in which we can recycle textiles more easily. There are over 100 different types of textile, but you can broadly categorise them into four groups. Those groups can be recycled at specific recycling centres. At Eslando, we act as a matchmaker, letting businesses know where to take their products for recycling. The easiest way that we do this is via our digital textile passport, a label on the clothing that contains all the information on its textile formulation.
Sticking with the textile passport, how does providing composition and certification data help businesses close the loop in their production cycles?
The data we provide is really granular. It covers everything from where the cotton comes from, to the dye and the stitching, and it can tell you where all of those elements can be recycled. We’re less interested in where exactly everything came from at the moment. The passport is industry-focused, rather than consumer-focused. While you might scan it and see that you can drop your old T-shirt off at a local Oxfam, they will know exactly where to take it based on the components within it.
Textiles are one of the largest contributors to environmental waste. From your perspective, what are the most pressing environmental consequences of textiles not being commercially recycled?
So it’s a myth that textiles aren’t recyclable, it’s just that it seems like it isn’t commercially viable. Connecting the dots of where something can be recycled is very complex work. But in terms of the environmental impact, textiles end up in landfill or an incinerator, when we could be recycling them. And we simultaneously are using land to grow new textiles to meet demand, which emits carbon. This also makes it more expensive as well. So why not eliminate both of these types of emission by recycling?
What are the biggest challenges businesses face in embracing circularity, and how does Eslando help them overcome these obstacles?
I think the biggest challenge that the industry faces in terms of circularity is that many businesses just don’t have enough knowledge about what can be recycled and how. And they also aren’t particularly interested – because why does it matter to them once they’ve sold something? We take that knowledge and we make it very simple for other people to understand. If you have something you want to recycle, we’ll do all the work for you – you don’t have to learn everything about textiles or fibers. You don’t have to understand what the process of recycling is.
In an industry where greenwashing can overshadow real progress, which brands or businesses do you think are leading the way in meaningful textile recycling and sustainability efforts?
It’s a tricky question. Members of Textile 2030 are a good place to start – these include M&S, New Look and Asda.
What role does policy and regulation play in advancing textile recycling, and what changes would you like to see governments implement to support businesses like Eslando?
The support of governments is vital to see any real change – if they were to put the policies in place, then we could see a real change in terms of carbon emissions and climate change, but a lot of these policies are 10–20 years in the future. The new Extended Producer Responsibility regulations, which came in last year, require businesses to pay for the cost of recycling packaging, and we’re participating with that at the moment. I can’t say much about it, but the new recycling infrastructure coming up in France is going to have an impressive impact on some of the more complicated issues we face with recycling textiles and shoes. We are participating in the Extended Producer Responsibility policy discussions in the UK at the moment, which will help with recycling, sorting and all end-of-life cycle infrastructure.
And finally, can you give us a sneak peek into any upcoming projects that Eslando is working on?
The marketplace is our most exciting new development. It’s where brands, manufacturers and recyclers can go to connect, including businesses like restaurants or hotels, who have waste textiles that they don’t know how to get rid of. By connecting brands with the right recyclers, every brand can be zero waste. For example, if a hotel or restaurant is changing their uniforms, they can recycle them there, and it can be turned into new stock for someone else, and it’s back in the loop again. After all, if someone’s brand logo ends up in landfill, it could be a PR disaster. Brands and corporations can really benefit from it long term, for their businesses, as well as for the environment.
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