Reverse Resources | Textile Waste Traceability Platform

Waste Recovery

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

Company Overview

Reverse Resources is an Estonian software and advisory company that digitizes the tracking and trading of textile waste. Founded in 2014 by Ann Runnel and headquartered in Tallinn, it runs a cloud-based platform that links fashion brands, garment and textile manufacturers, waste handlers and textile-to-textile recyclers.

The company began with a question about how waste can become a resource. Its first focus was connecting fabric leftovers from garment production with designers and manufacturers. It later concentrated on recyclable industrial waste, where a shared digital platform helps parties that cannot solve the problem one-to-one.

The central technology is a data layer in which factories record waste by fibre composition, colour and weight, so that material can be verified as it moves from the cutting room to a handler and then to a recycler. Brands receive the resulting flow data for their own reporting and recycling programmes.

A major milestone came in 2021 with the Circular Fashion Partnership in Bangladesh. It started with three factories segregating waste at the cutting table and expanded to a group of 21 brands. By 2026 the network connected 18 global brands with manufacturers, recyclers and waste handlers. In July 2026 the company introduced a Network Membership Certificate to help informal waste handlers reach social compliance and digital traceability.

Why These SDGs Matter

Textile production generates large volumes of cutting waste, and Reverse Resources addresses it at the point of generation. By requiring factories to sort waste by fibre type and by tracing it to recyclers, the platform helps convert material that would be discarded or downcycled into feedstock for new fibres. This supports Responsible Consumption and Production by cutting waste generation and raising reuse and recycling rates in apparel supply chains.

The company also works with waste handlers, a segment that often operates informally. Its Network Membership Certificate sets out a roadmap covering minimum labour standards and on-site health and safety, and it brings these handlers into a transparent digital record. This links directly to Decent Work and Economic Growth, because it formalises livelihoods and improves working conditions for people in the recycling value chain.

Products & Services
  • Textile waste traceability SaaS platform for supply chains
  • Waste mapping reports establishing supply chain baselines
  • Two-sided marketplace for recyclable textile waste trading
  • Brand dashboards with Sankey-style waste flow reports
  • Reporting support for DPP, CSRD and ESPR requirements
  • Waste handler Network Membership Certificate
  • Factory onboarding and waste segregation training
  • Market intelligence on waste volumes and recycling capacity
Business Challenges Solved
  • Unmeasured factory textile waste with no fibre composition data
  • Mixed waste streams that lower recycling feedstock quality
  • Informal waste handling without verified traceability
  • Manual spreadsheet and email exchange of waste data between parties
  • Difficulty matching garment factories with textile-to-textile recyclers
  • Brand data needs under emerging EU textile and reporting regulation
  • Verifying where production waste ends up for recycled content claims
  • Social compliance gaps among waste handlers
Approach & Methodology

Reverse Resources operates as a cloud-hosted SaaS platform built around a shared, verified record of textile waste. The method starts at the factory. Cutting waste is collected separately from other floor waste, placed in dedicated bags for each cutting run, then sealed, weighed and labelled with colour, composition, weight and buyer details. Factories record waste volumes and shipments in the platform on a daily, weekly or bi-weekly basis, depending on customer requirements.

Data is entered once by each party and shared across the network, so brands, factories, handlers and recyclers work from the same figures. Each party owns its data, companies choose whom to include in their network, and organisations outside a network cannot view its data. The company describes its security approach as aligned with ISO 27001 and compliant with GDPR.

Three service layers sit on this data. Traceability provides live dashboards by waste type, composition, colour and location. Waste mapping is a one-off advisory report that baselines waste volume, composition and recycling potential across a supply chain. The marketplace supports two trading steps, from garment factories to waste handlers and from waste handlers to recyclers.

For handlers, the Network Membership Certificate provides a structured path covering social compliance, operational health and safety and digital traceability, with planned alignment to the Materials Matter Standard. Local country teams, training and stakeholder events support onboarding.

Market Position

Reverse Resources serves the business-to-business segment of textile waste management and textile-to-textile recycling. Its primary users are global fashion brands, garment and textile manufacturers, waste handlers and recyclers. It is positioned as a coordination layer between them rather than as a recycler.

The company concentrates first on post-industrial waste, which it sees as a workable business case, and expects post-consumer waste to be drawn in gradually. Its programme work has involved Global Fashion Agenda, Fashion for Good, the H&M Foundation and the European Commission, which places it within established industry and policy initiatives.

Its differentiation lies in combining waste traceability, market mapping and a trading marketplace on one network, with a documented track record in Bangladesh that has since been extended to other producing countries.

Procurement Considerations
  • Decide whether the need is live SaaS traceability or a one-off waste mapping report as a baseline
  • Assess supplier workload for recording waste volumes and shipments, and confirm who bears it
  • Check factory segregation requirements, including dedicated bins, bags, labelling and weighing, and their cost
  • Review data ownership, network isolation and sharing terms, and request evidence for security claims, since ISO 27001 alignment is self-described
  • Confirm recycler coverage for your fibre types and sourcing countries before committing
  • Check that report outputs match your regulatory needs under CSRD, ESPR and digital product passport rules
  • Ask about onboarding support, training and local presence in your supplier geographies
  • Request the commercial structure, covering subscription, report and any marketplace transaction terms, to model ROI
  • Decide whether the need is live SaaS traceability or a one-off waste mapping report as a baseline
  • Assess supplier workload for recording waste volumes and shipments, and confirm who bears it
  • Check factory segregation requirements, including dedicated bins, bags, labelling and weighing, and their cost
  • Review data ownership, network isolation and sharing terms, and request evidence for security claims, since ISO 27001 alignment is self-described
  • Confirm recycler coverage for your fibre types and sourcing countries before committing
  • Check that report outputs match your regulatory needs under CSRD, ESPR and digital product passport rules
  • Ask about onboarding support, training and local presence in your supplier geographies
  • Request the commercial structure, covering subscription, report and any marketplace transaction terms, to model ROI
Funding, Recognition & Ecosystem
  • Winner of the H&M Foundation Global Change Award, 2016
  • Grant from the UK-funded SMEP Programme, implemented with UNCTAD, for the Thread of Change project on textile waste traceability in Bangladesh and Pakistan
  • Partner in the Circular Fashion Partnership with Global Fashion Agenda, launched in Bangladesh in 2021
  • Angel investors from Estonia, Singapore and Bangladesh, with total funding of about EUR 2.3 million reported in 2023
  • Programme collaboration with Fashion for Good, the H&M Foundation and the European Commission
  • Project partnership with National Textile University in Pakistan
Natnavi Analysis

Reverse Resources matters because textile-to-textile recycling depends on a reliable supply of sorted, known-composition feedstock, and industrial waste has historically been unmeasured and traded through fragmented channels. By digitizing that flow, the company addresses a practical bottleneck that sits upstream of recycling technology itself.

Its significance is reinforced by regulation. Brands preparing for digital product passports, corporate sustainability reporting and EU ecodesign rules need verifiable data on material flows, and a shared traceability record can support that work. The focus on waste handlers also gives the company a role in formalising a segment that global supply chains have rarely reached.

The sustainability contribution is indirect but structural. The platform does not recycle material itself, so environmental results depend on recycler capacity and brand demand for recycled content. The company’s own leadership has acknowledged that the recycling market is cautious, with brands and investors waiting for regulatory signals, which may affect the pace of network growth.

Strengths include a decade of operating history, an established presence in Bangladesh and support from recognised industry and public funders. Buyers should weigh these against the fact that network value grows with participation from brands, recyclers and factories in their own sourcing regions.

Sources & References
Website
Founded: 2014
Company Stage: Startup
Headquarters
Tallinn, Estonia
Geographic Presence
Reverse Resources is headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, and maintains a country office in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where its operating model was first scaled. The platform links participants in more than thirty markets, with manufacturers across five continents. Project work has extended the model to Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, while international fashion brands provide the demand for recycled content.
Solution Type
Service Provider, Software Platform
Sustainability Outcomes
Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency, Waste Reduction
Industries Served
Retail & Consumer Goods, Textiles & Apparel
Last Reviewed: September 21, 2026

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