From 18 April 2025, Dutch fashion retailer Zeeman will offer a new hamam towel in all its stores in the Netherlands—a towel with a unique story of circularity and local production. This towel is the first product to emerge from the initiative “Van Afval tot Zeeman” (“From Waste to Zeeman”), a collaborative effort facilitated by circular consortium CirkelWaarde and several Dutch textile partners. Not only the material but also the development process itself has been approached circularly—an industry-first in this format.

A New Approach to Circular Collaboration
Rather than using a traditional top-down purchasing model, the project involved all key players in the supply chain as equal partners. The team included Frankenhuis (textile recycling), Spinning Jenny (yarn production), Enschede Textielstad (weaving), and Zeeman, with CirkelWaarde guiding the process.

Marielle van Dillen, Zeeman’s buyer for Re-Use and Circularity, emphasised how the circular process offered new insights: “It was our first time sourcing locally. We learned how much you gain from understanding the entire chain and seeing what is possible when you start with waste materials.”

Towel Made from Old Jeans—By and For Zeeman Employees
This towel is made from recycled cotton fibres sourced from discarded jeans worn by Zeeman staff. These were processed into new yarns using a mix of recycled cotton and virgin lyocell and then woven into soft towel fabrics.

The collaboration emphasised creativity and adaptability. As Claudia Linders of Frankenhuis noted, “You don’t just look at what’s possible within one step of the chain—you innovate across the board. Flexibility and creativity are crucial, and the results are stronger and more valuable because of it.”

Co-Creation Drives Innovation
The project team explored not only product development but also the circular process behind it. According to project leaders Marjolein Mann (CirkelWaarde, ROVA) and Rosa Scholtens (CirkelWaarde), the process required letting go of fixed frameworks and experimenting with alternative approaches. “It was all about co-creation,” said Scholtens. “There was no roadmap. Just lots of learning and commitment.”

A Model for Circular Manufacturing
The towel is the result of nearly a year of intensive collaboration. The production model demonstrates that circular textile innovation is not only possible, but scalable, provided that all stakeholders invest equally. The partners hope this will inspire more companies to adopt similar models and take steps toward circularity.

Source: Duurzaam Ondernemen
Image credits: Zeeman / CirkelWaarde