Rester

Founded by Touchpoint Oy, Rester is a Finnish startup that recycles cotton, polyester, cotton-polyester, wool, polypropylene, and mixed materials into yarn, different kinds of nonwoven materials like insulation, acoustics panels, and filter fabric and composites.

Rester claims every ton of recycled fiber it produces can potentially save between 525,000 and two million liters of water and between 2,000 and 5,000 kg of CO2, compared to producing completely new textile fibers based on the nature of recycling (as of December 2023).

In June 2023, Rester purchased Finnish municipal waste management company Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto’s (LSJH) pilot line for end-of-life textile fiber that was jointly developed with Rester to expand the 6,000 ton annual capacity of its recycling plant in Paimio.

Key customers and partnerships

• In March 2024, Rester partnered with The Loop Factory to accelerate the integration of recycled textile fibers into various industrial processes in the Nordic market. 

• In February 2024, Touchpoint launched ReTouch, a new workwear material made from Rester's recycled fiber.

• In December 2023, Finnish design house Marimekko unveiled the Embla T-shirt collection made using Rester’s closed-loop recycling services.

• In May 2022, Finnish forest industry group Södra partnered to source textiles for its “OnceMore” blended fabrics recycling initiative to produce textile pulp.

• In November 2021, Finnish construction company EcoUp partnered with Rester to use recycled fibers in its insulated products.

• In 2021, cleaning product manufacturer Vileda Professional Finland partnered to recycle polyester and polyester-polypropylene production by-streams.

The company’s other textile recycling customers include Norwegian active and workwear manufacturer Sverre W. Monsen (December 2021) and Swedish textile service company Elis (2021)

Funding and financials

In June 2022, the company secured EUR 6 million (~USD 6.6 million) led by Lindström Group to scale up and internationalize.