Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis, Amelia Eleiter, and Terri Riedle – Speaker Interview 

This panel brings together a major retailer, a textile innovation company, and a materials science leader. What made you decide to work together on this, and what does each organization bring to the table? 

Renee

At lululemon, we focus on the areas where we can have the greatest influence—how products are designed, the materials we choose, and how products are used and reused. Advancing circularity at scale requires coordinated action across the value chain, which is why collaboration like this is essential. 

Each partner in this collaboration is addressing a different constraint in the system; Debrand on recovery and logistics, Samsara Eco on textile-to-textile recycling, and lululemon on designing products and creating demand signals that can make circular solutions viable at scale. Together, we’re testing what it takes to build new systems that can move circularity from pilot to scale. 

From our side, we bring deep knowledge of the apparel supply chain, insight into the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape, and a clear understanding of what our guests expect in terms of performance, durability, and quality. Partnering with Debrand and Samsara Eco allows us to connect those real-world apparel needs with emerging technologies, helping accelerate learning that no single organization could achieve on its own. Together with our partners, we’re helping to turn our vision of a circular model into a reality. 

Terri  

lululemon was instrumental in bringing us all together. They have been a partner to both Samsara Eco and Debrand for many years, and as we worked together to bring the world's first enzymatically recycled product made from end-of-life textiles to market, it became clear that Debrand was an essential piece of making it happen. The three of us solve complementary parts of the same puzzle. Debrand brings deep expertise in textile collection, sortation, and feedstock preparation. lululemon brings product vision, supply chain reach, and the brand commitment to bring products made from recycled materials to retail. And we bring the recycling technology that regenerates end-of-life textiles back into new ones.  

We're incredibly proud of this collaboration – it's a perfect example of true circularity, from end-of-life garment through to a product people can actually buy.  

Amelia 

What excites me most about this collaboration is rooted in an understanding we learned early on, that in an industry this complex, trying to do everything yourself is the fastest way to slow progress down.    With over 18 years in textile sorting under our belt, we’ve learned that circularity isn’t a single solution, it’s a system—and systems only work when every piece is optimized for its role. That meant making deliberate choices to go deep, not broad. It’s shaping your piece of the puzzle to become the best in the world at your specialization, and work with trusted partners that are doing the same. So for us at Debrand, that’s sorting efficiently, accurately, and transparently through the supply chain. We sit in the middle of this value chain, ensuring the right materials can reach the right next life and following the right specification requirements. 

What this collaboration represents is a successful example of bringing a circular product to life when all the puzzle pieces fit together: lululemon brings the product vision and design expertise; Samsara Eco brings the technology to regenerate end-of-life textiles back into something new; and Debrand brings sortation and identification expertise that connects those two worlds by making sure the right materials move through the system cleanly and efficiently.    

Lululemon has built a reputation around quality and durability. How does that philosophy connect to your circular economy work, and what's your vision for what happens to a Lululemon product at end-of-life? 

Renee 

Quality and durability are foundational to our approach. Products that perform well and last longer stay in use longer, which is the first and most important step in any circular model. We’re integrating circular design principles to help make products easier to resell, repair, and, where possible, recycle. Programs like lululemon Like New extend product use, while material innovation helps us explore options for future recovery. 

We design with multiple potential use phases in mind, recognizing that circularity is a system we’re actively learning how to build. End of use today often means resale or reuse, and over time, we’re working with partners to understand how additional pathways, including recycling, can responsibly fit into that system. 

Samsara is focused on turning used textiles back into raw materials. What's unique about your technology or approach? 

Terri 

It comes down to two things: the way we regenerate textiles, and the quality of what that process delivers. We use our AI-powered enzyme platform to engineer the perfect enzymes for each material. Those enzymes break down textiles – including blends and mixed materials – to their original molecular building blocks, stripping away any impurities, colours, dyes, and additives in the process. What's left is pure, virgin-identical material. 

That means there's no compromise on performance. The output is indistinguishable from virgin, so brands can keep creating as they always have – just with recycled materials that perform exactly like new. And because we're working at the molecular level, the regeneration process is unlimited. Whether a material has been recycled once or a hundred times, the output is exactly the same.  

The enzymatic process also means our materials have a low carbon impact. We're currently the only enzymatic recycling innovator working at scale, targeting both nylon and polyester, and we're continuing to build out our enzyme library to solve for other synthetic materials too. 

Debrand works with brands and retailers to scale circular solutions. What does a successful partnership look like from your perspective, and what are you learning from working with Lululemon and Samsara? 

Amelia 

Sometimes perfection gets in the way of progress.     A successful partnership, from our perspective, starts with alignment on mindset before it starts with alignment on process or the technology. It’s one thing to say you’re committed to circularity, but it’s another thing entirely to actually do the work, learn from it, and iterate. You need partners who understand that building something genuinely new means accepting that the first version won’t be perfect, but you’re committed enough to start anyway. 

What’s made our collaboration with lululemon and Samasra Eco so productive is exactly that: bringing unique intelligent systems, technologies, processes and systems to create a successful baseline operating model. We focused on getting an MVP in market, proving what we needed to prove, and building the learning infrastructure to improve from there. Each partner brought not just their expertise, but the operating mindset to move forward under uncertainty. That willingness to activate is where the real learning happens.   

One of the biggest challenges in textile recycling is maintaining fiber quality through multiple loops. How are you approaching that problem, and what's the realistic number of times a fiber can be recycled? 

Terri  

Fibre quality has been one of the biggest limitations of recycled materials — but that's the beauty of our process. Because our enzymes break materials down to their original molecular building blocks, we're able to produce pure, virgin-identical outputs every single time. The number of cycles doesn't matter. 

It also means you can dye it and spin it into any application or denier you like, with results identical to virgin material – giving brands full creative flexibility without any performance trade-off. 

  Renee 

Maintaining fiber quality depends on how products are designed, sorted, and regenerated across the value chain. Fiber choice, trims, dyes, and construction all influence whether materials can move through another loop.  

While the industry is still learning what the upper limits are, our focus is on using high-quality fibers and working with partners that are developing advanced regeneration technologies that rebuild fibers at the molecular level. Early progress suggests that, with the right design choices and processes, fibers can move through multiple cycles while maintaining the performance and feel our guests expect. 

  Amelia 

Our role in the textile recycling value chain is ensuring accuracy to the material content, knowing precisely what materials we’re handling and preparing feedstock to spec so that Samsara Eco’s technology can do what it’s designed to do. We’ve been committed to accuracy through developing our own in-house technology capabilities to provide this to our solution partners at the volume and scale required to execute with speed and efficiency.   

For this collaboration to be more than a pilot project, the economics have to work. Where are the margins, and what needs to happen to make circular textiles commercially viable at scale? 

Renee 

For circularity to scale, the economics have to work. That starts with designing products and systems with circularity in mind—reducing waste, improving recovery rates, and preserving material value.  

Commercial viability also depends on supportive infrastructure and regulatory alignment that support investment for long-term solutions. When technology innovation, operational efficiency, and demand signals move together, circularity becomes a viable business model—not just a niche solution. 

Terri 

Pilots help test, improve and prove models – and our collaboration on the Packable Anorak is a prime example. It was a product that went to retail and demonstrates that circular models are commercially viable. 

As technologies like ours scale, more brands commit to circular practices and the supply chain transforms, the economics improve. But what underpins all of it is collaboration. Circularity can't happen in isolation – every part of the supply chain needs to come together around the shared goal. The Packable Anorak is proof that when the right partners do that, circularity is very achievable and incredibly beneficial.  

Amelia 

The economics of circularity come down to the same fundamentals of any market: supply and demand. On the supply side, we have to build systems that are genuinely efficient and are without redundancies in order to stay competitive to the virgin materials market. This also requires identifying the systemic barriers that inhibit scalability in order to extract value upfront. For Debrand, we’re working hard to build the technology and infrastructure to create competitive supply and demand scenarios, but we’re not there yet.  

On the demand side, we need to create markets that actually value recycled content, and that’s where partners like lululemon matter enormously. A capsule collection like the this one sends a signal that consumers will buy it and brands will back it. 

With all that said, pilots are one thing, but scale is another. To get there, we can’t treat circularity as a nice-to-have. Ultimately, we do need regulatory and ecosystem support in order to ensure all components align, and that circularity is actually valued and supported across the value chain. 

How are you engaging customers in this circular model? Do they understand what's happening to their old products, and does that change their behaviour? 

Renee 

Our role is to make it easy for guests to participate in ways that fit into their lives. Programs like lululemon Like New show that when the value proposition is clear—quality, convenience, and trust—guests are willing to engage. We’re still learning how to best communicate what happens to products at end of use, and we continue to evolve our approach. As these systems mature, simplicity and transparency will be important in helping guests understand and participate. 

Amelia 

Historically, there hasn’t been a lot of visibility or transparency to the consumer on what’s happening to their old products through models like takeback programs, which were designeda round resale because that’s what the economics supported. When something was damaged or at their end-of-life, there weren’t many good answers for where it went either. That’s starting to change through increasing consumer demand and expectation, and with it, our ability to have a much more honest conversation.  

What we’re committed to is meeting consumers where the industry actually is, ensuring we’re not overpromising and being clear about what’s possible today versus tomorrow. While it’s important to make a complicated system feel simple and accessible to help drive behaviour change, it’s the responsibility of every player in the circular ecosystem to communicate responsibly. This requires a lot of education for many stakeholders—from customers to C-Suite—to really understand the system requirements to transition the circular economy into an operational reality, and that includes the different behaviours and decision-making required to help us get there. 

From a partnerships perspective, what's the biggest operational or logistical challenge in making this work across multiple organizations and geographies? 

Terri 

The reality is, textile supply chains are complex – there are a lot of steps and partners between an end-of-life garment and a finished product on a retail shelf, and getting all of them aligned is critical. Brands play a key role in making this work. They lead the direction of the supply chain, selecting the partners they work with, and we've been fortunate to have brand partners like lululemon who actively pull our materials through. They introduced us to partners like Debrand, which streamlined the process enormously. 

If this collaboration continues to be successful, what does it mean for the broader textile industry? What is your advice for others wishing to create and maintain cross supply chain partnerships?   

Renee 

This collaboration shows what’s possible when expertise across the value chain comes together to address real system constraints. It reinforces that progress on circularity depends on cross-supply-chain partnerships, consistent investment, and a willingness to build and test new systems rather than rely on existing ones. 

Our advice to others is to align early on shared goals, invest in long-term partnerships, and be prepared to iterate. Circularity requires persistence, transparency, and a willingness to learn as the system evolves.  

Terri  

We know there's a lot to consider in making circularity a reality, and we're here to help brands navigate the transition and make it as easy as possible. Our materials are virgin-identical, so you can keep creating the products your customers know and love, with materials that perform exactly as expected. There are no restrictions on colour, denier, or application – you can dye, spin, and finish our materials just as you would virgin. And because we work with the supply chain of your choice, adopting our materials can be a much simpler swap.  

But we're here to listen as much as we are to share. We're keen to understand how brands are thinking about circularity right now – particularly given the competing priorities many are navigating. The commercial pressures, the internal stakeholder alignment. The more we understand, the better we can support brands and ultimately help the entire industry move towards a circular future.  

Amelia 

Circularity can’t exist in a bubble. What made this cross-ecosystem collaboration work is that it was contained enough to prove out—one brand, two ecosystem partners, and a clear scope. As we look forward, there needs to be a supply-and-demand equilibrium that involves the wider industry. This collaboration can serve as a blueprint, rather than a one-off. The systems, infrastructure, and technologies we’ve built and tested together can be replicated across more brands, more materials, and more supply chains. Most critically, the mindsets for innovation need to be adopted with a willingness to figure things out together, acknowledge what isn’t working, have established feedback loops, and share learnings openly even when they’re uncomfortable. We’re at a genuine tipping point in this industry, and this collaboration has been an exciting proof point of what’s possible. 

What do you hope people at this expo understand about your work, and what are you hoping to learn or discover by being here? 

Renee 

We hope attendees understand that circularity isn’t a theoretical future—it’s something we’re actively building today through design decisions, operational pilots, and material innovation. This collaboration reflects real progress across the value chain, grounded in practical learning and deep partnership.  

Being here gives us the opportunity to exchange insights with others tackling similar challenges, share what we’re learning, and explore where collaboration can help move circular solutions closer to scale. 

Amelia 

We’ve been able to help pioneer this industry for close to 20 years, and we recognize that the mindset shift for transformation is the most critical component of this work. The way we produce, consume, make decisions, and assign value has been linear for a very long time. Changing that doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen—and it happens faster when the right people are in the right room together. What we hope people understand about our work is that every item eventually reaches end of life, and that’s not a problem to avoid but rather an opportunity to capture and find renewed value in.