A sheep-feed trial, a textile recycling network and a financing model for farm improvements were among the projects recognized at Textile Exchange's 2026 Climate and Nature Impact Awards.
The organization named five winners on Oct. 14 during its annual conference in Vancouver. CEO Claire Bergkamp and board chair Marci Zaroff presented the awards at the Rocky Mountaineer Station, honoring work across raw material production, waste recovery and investment.
Theory and Congi Farm took the Collaboration for Global Impact Award for a wool project involving Theory parent Fast Retailing, environmental technology company Sea Forest and Italian mill Botto Giuseppe. At Congi Farm in New South Wales, Australia, 2,000 Merino sheep received SeaFeed for 120 days. Textile Exchange put the resulting reduction in methane from digestion at 43 percent, equivalent to about 54.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided. The trial measured that part of wool production's climate impact, leaving the finished garments' footprint unassessed. Wool from the project was used in Theory's spring 2026 Regal Wool collection.
Gonzalo Pertile, Theory's vice president of sustainability, said in a statement that the pilot's results were encouraging, but that the lessons learned together about implementation, measurement, traceability, cost and scalability were perhaps even more important.
The Textile-to-Textile Ecosystem Award went to the Circulose Recycling Ecosystem, commending the brand commitments and fiber-producer partnerships supporting the Swedish company's industrial restart. Circulose makes a pulp from recycled cotton textiles that fiber producers can turn into new materials. According to Textile Exchange, volume commitments from 11 brand partners helped establish demand to support reopening its Ortviken plant. Agreements with Tangshan Sanyou, Aditya Birla/Birla Cellulose, Jilin Chemical Fiber and China Textile Academy Green Fibre provided downstream partners to convert the pulp.
Circulose CEO Jonatan Janmark said the award belongs as much to the company's brand and fiber-producer partners as to Circulose, and that together they worked through the hurdles and found the solutions it takes to make textile-to-textile recycling real.
Green Worms founder and CEO Jabir Karat won the Ryan Young Climate Leader Award for work to reduce emissions from fiber and raw material production. The award honors Young, Textile Exchange's late chief operating officer. Green Worms works across waste collection, sorting, processing and recovery, with an emphasis on employment and the conditions of waste workers. Karat used the announcement to outline plans for a mechanical textile-to-textile recycling facility in Tamil Nadu, inviting the fashion ecosystem to co-create, co-invest, share the risk and accelerate circular solutions together.
The Regenerative Land Leadership Award went to Amiha Agro director Amitabh Singh. Textile Exchange said the organization has helped about 8,000 cotton farmers adopt regenerative farming practices across 35,000 acres. Singh said Amiha believes regenerative agriculture must go beyond environmental improvement and place farmers at the center by building their knowledge, reducing production risks, improving soil health, strengthening climate resilience and creating dependable market opportunities for responsibly produced fibers.
Pur received the Removing Economic Barriers Award for its approach to financing regenerative wool production. Its programs combine brand investment and producer agreements with technical assistance, implementation planning and outcome monitoring. According to Textile Exchange, the French B Corp's programs have directed $350,000 to producers to put regenerative practices into use. Since 2020, the work has reached 16 Responsible Wool Standard-certified producers farming nearly 17,000 hectares. The funding figure excludes additional spending on technical assistance, oversight and tracking results.
Hannah Crone, Pur's animal fibers lead, said the recognition is particularly meaningful because it validates something the company believes is essential to scaling regenerative agriculture: producers should not be expected to carry the cost and risk of transition alone.
Originally reported by WWD