Brussels, Belgium-headquartered Resortecs has announced a
partnership with Amann Group, one of the word’s top three
manufacturers of sewing thread. Together, the two companies are
bringing design-for-disassembly to industrial scale, embedding
circularity directly into the way garments are made.
For Amann, the collaboration represents a significant step beyond
traditional thread manufacturing, providing new opportunities to
offer services and focusing on technical performance and
circularity. Entrusting Amann with thread logistics and quality
assurance will enable Resortecs to fully dedicate itself to
establishing a textile recycling ecosystem through an intensified
focus on preprocessing, waste management and optimising
feedstock from both pre- and post-consumer textile waste.
Today, most garments are not designed for disassembly, which
makes extending their life through reuse, repair and personalisation – as well as complex end-of-life processes like recycling –
challenging and costly.
Although the industry has focused on improving recycling
processes, scalability remains out of reach because the garments
themselves are not designed to be taken apart, hindering all forms
of circularity.
The partnership combines Smart Stitch, a range of heat-activated
sewing threads engineered by Resortecs, with Amann’s industrial
expertise in thread manufacturing and global distribution. This
integration allows brands and manufacturers to incorporate
disassembly capability directly into garments without changing the
design, production or performance of the item. When needed, the
garment can be automatically disassembled using the Resortecs
Smart Disassembly system, which facilitates faster processing, delabelling, higher material recovery and improved recycling
outcomes.
The collaboration aims to transform garments into recoverable
assets, shifting the industry from waste management to proactive
value retention. By leveraging Smart Stitch, brands can now
implement tiered disassembly strategies that make circularity both
operational and profitable at scale.
Smart Stitch enables the rapid delabelling of unsold or Grade B
stock for reuse and targeted disassembly for repairs, such as
replacing shoe soles or reflective ribbons and the recovery of
high-value components and trims.
This then enables the supply of the ‘clean’ material streams
required for high-grade chemical and mechanical recycling by fully
separating components into pure textile fractions.
Optimising recovery at every stage turns circularity into a scalable,
economically viable business model for high-volume manufacturing.
The collaboration leverages Amann’s position as one of the leading
sewing thread manufacturers worldwide, delivering several
strategic advantages for partners. With manufacturing
infrastructure across several global locations, Amann significantly
reduces the distance between thread production and garment CMT
(cut, make and trim) facilities, streamlining logistics and lowering
carbon footprints. Furthermore, brands can now easily nominate
these specialised threads through Amann’s established
procurement channels, accelerating adoption and bypassing
traditional supply chain hurdles. Partners will also benefit from
world-class technical support, after-sales service and a high level of
production homogeneity that ensures consistent quality across
different manufacturing regions.