Danish fashion retailer Bestseller is going to produce new clothes from its own production waste in two Bangladeshi factories. To this end, the company is piloting a major circularity project by teaming up with GMS Composite Knitting, Bestseller's biggest jersey supplier in Bangladesh, and Cyclo Recycled Fibres, one of the major recycling spinning mills.

48 million tones of clothing are disposed worldwide every year. 73% are incinerated, 12% is reused, 12% is downcycled, and only less then 1% is turned into new clothes.

GMS Composite Knitting produces about 6 million pieces of apparel items in a month. Of this quantity, 50% goes to the Danish buyer. To develop the new recycled yarns, Bestseller is collaborating with Cyclo, a Bangladeshi recycled cotton fibre firm, on a mission to responsibly recycle the hundreds of tonnes of cotton fabric discarded daily as cutting waste. By eliminating the dyeing process, Cyclo's mechanical recycling process greatly reduces the amount of water, energy, chemicals, and carbon emissions.

GMS will supply the cutting waste produced while making Bestseller's apparels to Cyclo. Then, Cyclo will recycle the waste to produce yarn. This yarn will be sent back to GMS, which will use it to make Bestseller's clothes. Bestseller saw Bangladesh as an "obvious" location because a significant amount of its overall production is based there, with a particular emphasis on cotton.