Regatta Professional Launches Circular Workwear Range Built for Full Recycling

Less than 1% of clothing in the UK currently gets recycled back into textiles. That figure, drawn from European Parliament data, frames exactly what Regatta Professional was working against when it unveiled the Recycle.me range earlier this month: a five-piece circular workwear collection designed not just with recycled content, but to be fully recycled at end of life.

The difference matters enormously for anyone buying uniforms at volume. "Textile-to-textile circular" is not a marketing phrase here. It describes a specific design constraint: every Recycle.me garment uses 100% polyester mono-fibre fabric and compatible trims, which is the prerequisite for being accepted into Project Re:claim's mechanical recycling system. Project Re:claim, a joint venture between SATCoL and Project Plan B, operates the UK's first commercial-scale post-consumer polyester recycling plant in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Its 3,000-tonne annual capacity runs on a thermomechanical process that converts used polyester garments into rPET pellets. A polycotton polo or a fleece with nylon panels cannot go through that system. Mono-fibre means the entire garment: fabric, zippers, labels, everything.

The take-back logistics run through SATCoL's network via an online returns portal covering the UK and Northern Ireland. Once returned, garments travel to Kettering and re-enter the supply chain as raw material. Compare that to end-of-life commitments that amount to a charity bin outside a flagship store, and the infrastructure difference is significant.

Each Recycle.me garment carries CTF's Infinitee certification mark, a third-party standard granted by both the UKIPO and the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The mark confirms the garment has been designed to meet the requirements of a named recycling facility, not simply that it contains some proportion of recycled content. Other brands carrying the Infinitee mark include BAM Clothing, DHL, David Luke, and Seasalt, which indicates a growing pipeline while confirming that Regatta Professional is working within an established framework rather than building a proprietary standard.

The range covers five pieces: a thermal jacket, bodywarmer, softshell, fleece, and polo, available in two colourways, with the full collection due in May 2026. These categories suit the mono-fibre restriction well; polyester performs strongly across all five without the breathability trade-offs that would surface with a polycotton shirt. Recycled-content polyester holds up to uniform-level wash cycles and abrasion comparably to virgin polyester, and care requirements stay straightforward: machine-washable, quick-drying, low operating cost across a team wardrobe.

Anthony Haber, managing director of Regatta Professional, called Recycle.me "an important milestone for us, but it is only the beginning," noting that the partnership with CTF started the previous year "in a first step to be awarded their expert certification."

For workwear buyers evaluating a switch to circular pieces, the right interrogation of any supplier goes further than asking whether products contain recycled fiber. Ask for the specific composition of every component including hardware. Ask which named recycling facility the garment is certified against, not just which mark it carries. Ask whether the take-back scheme has a logistics partner and a physical processing destination. With over 700,000 tonnes of textiles entering UK household waste annually according to WRAP data, the gap between "sustainable workwear" as a label and sustainable workwear as a functioning system is wide. Recycle.me is one of the more complete attempts yet to close it.