CETIA

CETIA is a French startup that develops solutions to automate sorting and dismantling of end-of-life or unsold textile and footwear items, which can then be used by companies that carry out recycling. The company offers two key solutions: 1) Re_CLOTHES, which focuses on sorting textile, and 2) Re-SHOES, which sorts footwear.

The Re_CLOTHES solution is an automated system to collect and analyze data generated across the entire material preparation process so that it can be used to develop workflows for complex articles of clothing. The process involves sorting textiles by composition and color using AI. It then mechanically isolates the fibers of the clothes by using a laser to remove hard components like zippers and buttons. 

The company claims its Re-SHOES solution is the world’s first solution to automatically separate and sort the soles of shoes using robots. The initiative targets 1,000 shoes and soles to be processed daily throughout the industrial pilot, which was slated for March 2023, ahead of a larger-scale deployment. CETIA's IDSHOES is an AI-driven visual identification solution for shoes that can be used to determine materials and the assembly process ahead of processing.

The company’s 1,200 square meter facility in Hendaye, France can sort one garment every second and process 600 kg of clothing per hour for fiber recovery. It can also separate soles from 120 shoes each hour.

Key customers and partnerships

For its Re-SHOES initiative, the company has partnered with popular sports brands such as Decathlon, alongside German online fashion retailer Zalando, French sustainable fashion brand family Groupe Eram, ReValorem, a French company that processes unsold luxury goods to be reused as raw materials, and French luxury fashion recycling company L'Atelier des Matières.

Funding and financials

The company had secured EUR 900,000 (~USD 962,000) in investment from eco-organization Refashion.