Amsterdam invests €900,000 in new circular textile hub
From discarded fabric to new business ideas
On the Donauweg, the hub will join a neighbourhood already home to circular textile businesses Brightfiber Textiles, Reconstruct and BOAS. It will add 2,300 square metres of workspace to this growing concentration of circular textile activity.
The ambition is to bring different parts of the industry working alongside each other. A designer giving discarded fabric a second life could find their next collaborator down the corridor. Makers, educators, technology specialists and established businesses are all welcome, whether they work with clothing, furniture, yarn or curtains.
Urban Resort, which is developing and will manage the hub, is inviting future participants to help shape the space around collaboration and experimentation.
A €4.5 billion industry with scope for change
The Amsterdam region accounts for around a quarter of the Dutch textile industry, representing annual turnover of €4.5 billion. That gives the shift towards circular textiles a substantial existing business base to build on.
Yet valuable material is still going up in smoke. According to the City of Amsterdam (Dutch), around two-thirds of textiles discarded by residents are currently incinerated with residual waste. Just 7% are recycled, even though much of what is thrown away could be reused or recycled.
For businesses, that creates an opportunity to develop new models around repair, reuse, recycling and new materials while keeping valuable textiles in circulation for longer.
Making space for circular enterprise
The city’s investment will support renovation, programme development and community building, with workspace available until at least 2034.
For entrepreneurs working on the next generation of textiles, the hub offers something increasingly valuable in Amsterdam, physical space to test ideas, build partnerships and turn circular concepts into viable businesses.