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ReFiber Wants India Free From Unused Clothes

• By  Textile Excellence
• August 15, 2026

This Independence Day, ReFiber turned unused clothes into a circularity call to action.

ReFiber, powered by OterRi, launched ‘Freedom from Unused Garments’ on August 15, inviting citizens to schedule doorstep collection of unwanted clothes through the ReFiber app. Collected textiles will be channelled towards reuse, recycling and further processing.

The campaign brings together Tisser, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), UNIDO and Lions International, with support from Vrunda Desai, Textile Commissioner, Maharashtra Government, as chief guest.

The initiative builds on ReFiber’s Mumbai Textile Circular Economy Demonstration Project, conducted in June 2026. The pilot collected 2.7 tonnes of post-consumer textiles, generating 275 collection orders from 257 citizens through 15 laundry partners across 28 branches.

The model’s key idea is simple: use existing city service networks to organise first-mile textile collection rather than build an entirely new logistics system.

Shrikant Bhangdiya, Chairman, ReFiber Initiative, said: “The success of the Mumbai demonstration has shown that textile waste collection can be made more organised, accessible and scalable. Our aim is to take these learnings forward towards a model that can be replicated across cities and eventually support a nationwide movement for textile circularity.”

The campaign highlights a growing challenge for India’s textile industry: collecting what consumers no longer use. Better collection is the first step towards giving discarded garments a second life, and keeping more textile waste out of the waste stream.

Shrikant Bhangdiya, Chairman, ReFiber Initiative, said: “The success of the Mumbai demonstration has shown that textile waste collection can be made more organised, accessible and scalable. Our aim is to take these learnings forward towards a model that can be replicated across cities and eventually support a nationwide movement for textile circularity.” The campaign highlights a growing challenge for India’s textile industry: collecting what consumers no longer use. Better collection is the first step towards giving discarded garments a second life, and keeping more textile waste out of the waste stream.