Cotton Lives On kicks off 2025 recycling activities

First launched in 2022 by Cotton Council International and Cotton Inc., Cotton Lives On invites U.K. fashion brands and retailers to join its initiative.

The program complements the U.S.-based Blue Jeans Go Green program, which has recycled more than 5.6 million pairs of jeans and diverted more than 2,832 metric tons of denim from landfill since its launch in 2006.

“We are thrilled to see so much interest and participation in the Cotton Lives On recycling program for 2025,” says Kim Kitchings, senior vice president at Cary, North Carolina-based Cotton Inc. “By joining the program, fashion brands, retailers and consumers can help keep cotton’s circularity going by diverting cotton waste from landfill, while also helping people at risk of homelessness by providing them with a roll mat made from the recycled cotton.”

In the U.K., Cotton Lives On works with Devon, England-based Naturalmat to convert discarded cotton-based garments into roll mats, which are distributed by Shelter and Single Homeless Project, two U.K. charities working to prevent homelessness. 

Cotton Lives On brand and retail collaborators include Charles Tyrwhitt, Hush, Whistles, Hobbs, L’Estrange, Anthropologie, Paige, Bianca Saunders, Nexvision and Me+Em.

The program accepts garments containing at least 85 percent cotton, sorting items and removing buttons, zippers and hardware before delivering the materials to a natural cotton fiber recycler. Once materials are converted into a cotton nonwoven pad, they are sent to Naturalmat.

To date, the Cotton Lives On program has collected approximately 17,637 pounds of cotton and donated approximately 100 roll mats. Each new roll mat contains 14.1 pounds of unwearable cotton, equivalent to 45 T-shirts, Cotton Lives On says.