Resortecs

Resortecs is a Belgium-based startup offering a combined textile disassembly and recycling solution. The company uses a combination of thermal engineering, eco-design, and chemical engineering through its Smart Stitch solution targeting brands and Smart Disassembly solution targeting recyclers. Smart Stitch is a range of 16 heat-dissolvable threads designed to disintegrate when subjected to temperatures above 190°C, enabling automatic thermal disassembly and design for recycling. The company claims that Smart Disassembly is the world's first thermal disassembly system. It is a fully automated process that enables recyclers to remove zippers, elastic bands, and other trims. The first continuous Smart Disassembly line with a capacity of ten tons per day is planned to be rolled out in the EU in 2024.

The company claims that brands using its solution can begin to generate profits by collecting as little as 9% of their initial production for disassembly and recycling and that they can reduce their products’ carbon footprint by up to 50% by using Smart Stitch combined with recycling. Recyclers can benefit from Smart Disassembly’s ability to automatically process hardware on clothing 5x faster than manual disassembly methods and recover up to 90% of a textile product for recycling.

Key Customers and partnerships

The company’s partnerships with fashion brands for Smart Stitch include Bershka to launch a capsule collection featuring denim shorts and jeans in August 2022, Decathlon to unveil a ski jacket under its Wedze brand in December 2022, Konundrum to integrate Smart Stitch in its modular outerwear offerings in 2022, and HNST to launch jeans for men and women in December 2023. It also partnered with mattress textile manufacturer BekaertDeslee to develop mattress covers in May 2023.

Funding and financials

In June 2022, the company secured a EUR 2.5 million (~USD 2.7 million) grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator to develop its solutions. In April 2023, the company raised EUR 2.2 million (~USD 2.37 million) in a seed round led by ScaleFund and finance&invest.brussels to finalize the development of its continuous disassembly line.