LOOPED IN with Carl Warkentin

Scaling Polyester Recycling Fast

A recycling breakthrough is useless if it never reaches real scale and Syre is betting everything on getting there fast. From Syre’s office in Stockholm, we talk with CEO Dennis about why they chose polyester as the first target, why their mission is “speed and scale,” and why they believe the textile industry needs industrial capacity now, not a decade from now. We dig into Syre’s unusually customer-driven origin story and how off-take agreements change the rules of the game. Dennis shares how commitments from global brands like H&M, Nike, and Target help unlock project financing for a first-of-its-kind Vietnam facility targeting 150,000 metric tons of circular PET output. We also talk honestly about what makes this hard: chemical-plant ramp-up, purification challenges, and the reality that post-consumer collection and sorting systems still lag behind the demand for recycled polyester. On the technology and strategy side, Dennis walks through Syre’s glycolysis-based chemical recycling approach, why they prioritize polyester-rich feedstock, and why they shifted toward an orchestration model that partners with best-in-class providers rather than trying to invent every step in-house. We also get into why Vietnam matters for circular textiles, how regulation around textile waste imports can make or break scale, and what a global expansion roadmap could look like as legislation and demand accelerate. If you care about textile-to-textile recycling, circular economy supply chains, sustainable fashion, and the future of recycled polyester at industrial scale, this conversation will give you a clear view of what it takes to execute. Subscribe, share this with someone building in climate and materials, and leave a review with your biggest question about scaling circular textiles. Contact Us This is interactive content - send us your questions to the guests and we record another session just focusing on your questions! You have suggestions for new guests or want to sponsor the show? * Contact Carl via LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlwarkentin/] Thanks for listening and keep podcasting!

Making Sustainability personal with The CSO Shop Founder Danielle Azoulay

Your favorite “sustainable” product might still be built for the trash. Carl sits down with Danielle from The CSO Shop, a longtime sustainability leader and fractional CSO, to get brutally practical about what circularity really demands and why recycling is only a small piece of the circular economy. We start where consumers actually live: what goes in us, on us, and around us. Danielle explains why beauty and personal care are such a powerful consumer climate tech lever, then connects the dots to what companies can realistically do today when suppliers, materials, and infrastructure limit the options. We talk incentives, venture funding gaps, and why policy can speed things up, while strong business models still need to stand on their own. From there, we go hands-on with circular design. Danielle breaks down the difference between circularity and recycling and walks through a simple “pick up an object” exercise that exposes how many materials and value chains hide inside everyday products. You’ll hear real-world examples of sustainable packaging that works with curbside recycling, plus how brands can make circular fashion feel cool instead of sacrifice. We also dig into the unglamorous truth of scale: why Fortune 500 “incremental” moves like post-consumer recycled content can send demand signals that reshape upstream markets and cut virgin plastic at massive volume. If you want practical circular economy thinking you can apply to product design, supply chain strategy, Scope 3 emissions, and consumer messaging, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who cares about climate action, and leave a review with the one product you think should be redesigned first. Contact Us This is interactive content - send us your questions to the guests and we record another session just focusing on your questions! You have suggestions for new guests or want to sponsor the show? * Contact Carl via LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlwarkentin/] Thanks for listening and keep podcasting!

The Future of Product Creation with Mode Maison Founder & CEO Steven Gay

Imagine typing, “Warmest low‑profile jacket for Siberia, size M, modern look,” and seconds later seeing a faithful simulation on your avatar—plus the exact factory files needed to make it. That’s the leap from pretty pixels to physics‑native product creation we dig into with Steven, founder and CEO of Mode Maison Home. We trace Steven’s path from Ralph Lauren’s Purple Label to building TMAC, a material scanning system that captures not only how fabrics look but how they behave—torsion, tension, compression, and thermal performance. Those measurements fuel a physical world model that knows where a sneaker will bend, how a linen will drape, and when a suede will fail, producing simulations you can trust and manufacturing files you can ship. The result: fewer samples, faster cycles, and designs that move from intent to production without the usual guesswork. This shift unlocks on‑demand, onshore microfactories and a new kind of commerce where the minimum order quantity is one. We talk hyper‑personalization at scale—garments tailored to your climate, taste, and movement—while cutting overproduction, warehousing, and global shipping. We also explore circularity with digital product passports and embedded IDs, making resale, repair, and recycling smarter and simpler. Along the way, we weigh real challenges: today’s siloed toolchains, the risk of brand sameness in “ghost manufacturing,” and how brands can stay distinct by treating AI as a physics‑aware co‑designer rather than a pixel pusher. Looking ahead, Steven outlines a five‑year horizon where brands specify outcomes in plain language and receive validated designs plus tech packs in moments, and a ten‑year horizon where brands act as creative directors while systems generate products within their guardrails. If you care about sustainable fashion, advanced manufacturing, or AI that grasps the real world, this conversation connects the dots from factory floor data to build‑ready files. Enjoy the episode, then share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review telling us the first product you’d generate. Contact Us This is interactive content - send us your questions to the guests and we record another session just focusing on your questions! You have suggestions for new guests or want to sponsor the show? * Contact Carl via LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlwarkentin/] Thanks for listening and keep podcasting!

From UGC to On-Demand Manufacturing - A Holistic Approach with Kitty Yeung

What if the best-performing fashion ads never required shipping a single sample? We sit down with Kitty Young [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kittyyeung1/], founder of Wear It AI [https://wearit.ai/], to explore how hyper-realistic virtual try-on turns everyday photos into high-converting product content—then feeds those signals back into a smarter, cleaner supply chain. Kitty shares how brands can swap expensive, unpredictable influencer campaigns for scaled UGC, where micro and nano creators generate themselves in your styles in minutes and get paid on performance, engagement, and remixes. The content looks like real life—true bodies, true fits, brand-correct styling—because trust sells better than filters. The conversation goes beyond marketing. Kitty maps a practical route to on-demand production: use AI to see what people actually want, connect those preferences to 3D simulation, image-to-pattern generation, and local microfactories, and produce with MOQ of one. We talk digital printing, laser cutting, alternative bonding, and the stubborn realities of sewing automation. The goal isn’t hype; it’s a measurable drop in waste and lead time, with fewer missed bets and a faster path from try-on to delivery. Think Starbucks for apparel: proven silhouettes, seasonal specials, and personalization on fit, fabric, and print—served within hours to days. With a background in physics and stints in quantum computing, Kitty brings a systems mindset to fashion tech. We unpack how shoppable UGC, body-accurate avatars, and integrated tooling can make stores feel like studios and social feeds feel like showrooms. If you’re building for sustainable fashion, DTC growth, or retail innovation, you’ll find a blueprint here: everyone can be a model, many can be designers, and brands can finally match demand with supply in real time. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow, share with a colleague who obsesses over on-demand, and leave a quick review with your favorite insight so we can bring more voices like Kitty’s to the mic. Contact Us This is interactive content - send us your questions to the guests and we record another session just focusing on your questions! You have suggestions for new guests or want to sponsor the show? * Contact Carl via LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlwarkentin/] Thanks for listening and keep podcasting!

Inside China’s Circular Textile Revolution: From Manufacturing to Recycling with CKG Director Vincent Djen

What does a truly circular textile business look like when you operate both a factory floor and a recycling line? We sit down with entrepreneur Vincent Jin to map the entire loop—from shrinking order sizes and digitized sewing lines to China’s door‑to‑door collection networks feeding textile‑to‑textile recyclers. The story starts with a family manufacturer shaped by early Scandinavian sustainability demands, and then accelerates as DTC, tariffs, and lead‑time pressure force radical flexibility and a service‑first mindset. Vincent opens up about the nuts and bolts of recycling at scale: why pre‑sorting still relies on skilled hands, where AI sorting falls short on dark colors and complex blends, and how preprocessing into pellets or popcorn meets the purity specs of chemical and enzymatic recyclers. We explore the rise of microfactories as a tool to slash overproduction—keeping core styles in traditional lines while local, on‑demand units handle reorders, collaborations, and regional spikes within days. Along the way, we unpack the real power of transparency through chain‑of‑custody, LCAs, and the coming digital product passport, which ties material truth to a simple scan. The conversation doesn’t shy away from hard questions: Can sewing be fully automated? Why do blends and trims still block circularity? How will fast fashion evolve as T2T capacity scales in China and beyond? Vincent shares a pragmatic ten‑year outlook driven by robotics, smarter design for recycling, and brands that think like operators—fast, open, and data‑literate. If you care about ethical sourcing, EPR readiness, and the future of circular fashion, this is a rare, ground‑level guide to what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help others discover it. Contact Us This is interactive content - send us your questions to the guests and we record another session just focusing on your questions! You have suggestions for new guests or want to sponsor the show? * Contact Carl via LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlwarkentin/] Thanks for listening and keep podcasting!