Ecoalf, at the forefront of the circular economy and sustainable innovation

Founded in 2009 by Madrid-based entrepreneur Javier Goyeneche, Ecoalf is a sustainable fashion brand that produces clothing, footwear, and accessories from recycled materials. This sustainable innovation project has been internationally recognized: among others, it has received the 2020 Schwab Foundation Social Innovators Award, the Manos Unidas Award for Committed Business in 2024, the B Corp Best for the World award in 2022, the European Business Environment Award in 2014, and many more.

The Leaders visited Ecoalf's headquarters, where they were welcomed by Brendan James, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, who explained the company's history. "Fifteen years ago, almost no one used recycled materials. No one really cared about sustainability or thought about it in the fashion industry or its impact." With the goal of finding the first recycled materials, Javier Goyeneche traveled the world and met a woman in Taiwan who used plastic bottles and turned them into rugs. “It was with her that we developed our first collection, which used these plastic bottles to create outerwear and backpacks.”

At that time, the percentage of recycled polyester was between 8 and 10%. Over the years, Ecoalf has increased the amount of recycled material. “Now our coats are 100% recycled polyester, with 100% recycled polyester padding and lining.” The advantages are many: “It reduces CO2 emissions, saves water, and is also recyclable. By not mixing it with other materials, it can be recycled at the end of its useful life, which further reduces its impact.” This is not the case with garments that mix different materials, as their recycling methods can be incompatible. “If you mix elastane and polyester or nylon, they all have different melting points and different chemical processes, so some parts can burn, others can't… That's why it's so difficult to recycle materials.”

“We make sure every single one of our garments is recyclable,” continued Brendan James. “So we don't mix, for example, synthetics with natural materials or anything like that.” The importance of recycling in the fashion industry is clear: “A cotton T-shirt consumes about 1,104 liters of water. That's to grow and produce the cotton. A T-shirt is the amount of water you can drink for an entire year. With 100% recycled cotton, instead of 1,104 liters we can use 19.8, which reduces water consumption by 98%.”

Footwear, on the other hand, poses an additional challenge. “It's one of the most complicated because it has so many different components. What we're working on is making it easier to separate. The upper is made from recycled polyester.” It is manufactured through our 'Upcycling the Oceans' project, which involves reusing plastic bottles from the ocean floor.

The 'Upcycling the Oceans' initiative was launched in 2015 and has grown significantly over time. Currently, in Spain, its country of origin, it is present in 45 ports and has engaged more than 600 boats and 2,600 fishermen who deliver the plastic waste they collect with their nets. The project, developed through the Ecoalf Foundation, has spread throughout the Mediterranean and is now present in Italy, Greece, France, and Egypt, and has even reached Thailand. Since its inception, the project has recovered more than 1,900 tons of marine litter, transforming much of it into raw material for new textile products. "Of all the waste we collect, only 9% is plastic bottles that we use to make clothing. The rest can be anything, from tires to glass bottles and aluminum cans. But thanks to our NGO, we can give them a second life: we collect all the waste, clean it, treat it, and then deliver it to different industries that can reuse it.”

Ecoalf's factories are located around the world, depending on where they source their materials. "In India, we work with cotton; much of our cotton comes from Gujarat. We use regenerative cotton: instead of having rows and rows of cotton, we mix it with different types of crops. Farmers grow what they'll consume throughout the season, mixing it with the cotton. This creates a small ecosystem where cotton provides certain nutrients, eggplant, for example, provides others... It's much more natural and doesn't destroy the soil it comes from."

The Leaders, and Ankit Agarwal in particular, asked Brendan James numerous questions about the production process Ecoalf uses for the materials it later uses in its garments: polyester, nylon, natural dyes, hemp fiber… “In addition to recycled materials, we also use low-impact materials, like hemp, for example. Hemp is very good because it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere when it grows, and it uses very little water. Hemp actually adds more nutrients to the soil than it takes away.”

Ankit Agarwal discussed two projects his startup, Phool.co, has carried out with H&M: “We collect discarded flowers from temples, and with them we receive a lot of plastic. Out of every 100 tons, about 9 would be plastic. So H&M made buttons for their shirts with that plastic, and they called them ‘good buttons.’ The H&M Foundation funded us, and the buttons were made and hangers were made for their stores.”

The meeting concluded with a visit to one of Ecoalf's stores. Ecoalf has numerous locations in Spain and a presence in other European countries, as well as in Mexico and Japan. This is undoubtedly a business model that demonstrates that business success is not incompatible with sustainability.

Meeting attendees:

▪️ Brendan James, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Ecoalf

VIII edition activity summary