PARIS — London-based Epoch Biodesign has acquired a nylon 6,6 production plant in Spain, becoming the first enzymatic recycling company able to produce recycled nylon at industrial scale, a capability the fashion industry has lacked.
The company acquired the Blanes, Spain, facility from Domo Chemicals for just over 4 million euros, giving it commercial-scale polymerization capacity just as fashion and automotive companies race to secure recycled materials to comply with tightening sustainability regulations.
Although apparel brands and automakers have set ambitious targets to increase recycled content by 2030, less than 1 percent of nylon 6,6 is recycled, leaving manufacturers with few commercially viable sources.
Backed by investors such as Lululemon and Zara parent company Inditex‘s venture arm, Mundi Ventures, Epoch believes the acquisition positions it to help close that gap.
The company has developed a tech that uses AI-designed enzymes to break down waste nylon into its chemical building blocks, called monomers.
The company is currently in the construction phase of a London facility that will produce those monomers. The newly acquired plant in Spain will convert them back into finished nylon resin for apparel, automotive and industrial customers.
Together, the two sites will allow Epoch to control the process from end-of-life waste through to finished polymer. The company says that makes it the world’s first fully vertically integrated enzymatic recycler.
“Vertically integrating our process, from waste all the way through to polymer chip, massively simplifies our supply chain,” said Jacob Nathan, founder and chief executive officer.
Bringing every stage of production under one company will reduce complexity, improve transparency and enable it to pass efficiency gains on to customers, while accelerating its path to market.
Monomers produced at the London demonstration plant will be shipped to Spain for processing into finished polymer. That will allow customers to begin qualifying materials on the same industrial equipment that will ultimately manufacture recycled nylon at commercial scale.
“This will provide us with the ability to validate our materials on the industrial asset that will manufacture recycled polymers at scale,” Nathan said. “Our customers can therefore work with us today to integrate this material into their supply chain, with full confidence that the performance will translate at a larger scale.”
The facilty in Blanes, Spain.
Courtesy of Epoch Biomaterials
The facility, located about 40 miles north of Barcelona, has annual capacity of 52,000 tons, which equals about 10 percent of nylon 6,6 production capacity across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Production is scheduled to restart in October, while construction of the London demonstration plant is due to be completed this year.
Acquiring an existing industrial facility offered a faster route to market than building polymerization capacity from scratch, Nathan said. The company will retain the site’s current 60 employees, preserving decades of manufacturing expertise while repurposing an existing fossil fuel-era asset for recycled production.
The expansion also deepens relationships with strategic investors from the fashion industry.
Inditex invested during Epoch’s Series A raise, while Lululemon joined its 10.3 million euro funding round in March. Nathan said both companies are working with Epoch beyond their investment.
“We work very closely with our partners Lululemon and Inditex both on an equity and commercial level,” he said. “The relationship already goes beyond capital into ongoing collaboration to bring recycled nylon 6,6 to market.”
The company already has several feedstock and product offtake agreements in place, alongside collaborations focused on validating materials before moving to commercial supply. Nathan said the acquisition should help accelerate discussions with brands.
“Blanes lets us turn those offtake conversations into further signed volume now rather than waiting years for supply to exist,” he said.
The acquisition caps a year of rapid expansion for Epoch.
In April, the company revealed plans to build Europe’s first, and the world’s largest, enzymatic nylon 6,6 recycling plant in London. Earlier this year, it also signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S.-based nylon producer Invista, whose predecessor, DuPont, invented nylon 6,6, to advance the development of post-consumer recycled nylon at commercial scale.
Overall, the deal marks Epoch’s shift from developing recycling technology to manufacturing recycled nylon. The move comes as demand for circular materials continues to outpace supply and brands look for end-of-life solutions to help meet tightening sustainability regulations, including the EU ban on destroying unsold textiles, which took effect on July 1.
