SOEX

What SOEX does

SOEX Textil-Verwertungsgesellschaft m.b.H. is a privately-held German circular-textile operator founded in 1977 and headquartered in Ahrensburg, with major processing operations in Wolfen (Germany) and Sharjah Free Zone (United Arab Emirates). The group employs 1,001-5,000 staff across two mega-facilities and runs an international take-back network spanning more than 60 countries through its wholly-owned I:CO subsidiary. Its business spans the full re-use and recycling value chain for post-consumer and post-industrial textiles and footwear: collection (via charity partnerships, municipal street collection and the I:CO in-store retailer drop-off system), manual and automated sorting into 300+ categories, fiber-to-fiber and material recycling, and the wholesale re-commerce of graded second-hand goods into international markets.

The group's technological core is the proprietary "Sorting for Recycling" station at Wolfen - a fully automated, AI-driven NIR sorting line that recognizes more than 78 fiber types and material combinations at accuracy above 95%, processing roughly 1,600 garments per hour (≈600 kg) with a planned doubling of throughput. Alongside it, SOEX operates what it describes as the world's first industrial shoe-recycling plant, which disassembles footwear into separable streams of rubber, leather, foam, fabric and metal for downstream reuse; the company is ISO 9001 and ISO 50001 certified for its sorting operations.

SOEX generates revenue through four intertwined streams: (i) transaction-based re-commerce of sorted second-hand clothing and shoes, (ii) professional-services and processing fees charged to fashion retailers, brands and industrial partners for take-back, Re-Value (surplus/returns/defect handling) and Recycling services, (iii) hardware-style sales of secondary raw materials (recycled fibers for automotive and construction insulation, shoe component streams) and (iv) consulting engagements on circular-economy implementation. Major customers and partners include Mercedes-Benz AG, Tally Weijl, H&M, Mango, Jack & Jones, DBL Böge, plus a charitable-organization channel that monetizes donated textiles by kilogram. In FY2022 the group reported revenue of €60.4M, EBITDA of approximately €3M and a consolidated loss of €0.9M, following a multi-year restructuring from -€9.8M EBITDA in 2019.

Name

SOEX

Legal name

SOEX Textil-Verwertungsgesellschaft m.b.H.

Website

https://soex.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

SOEX is a privately-held German circular-textile operator (founded 1977) that collects, AI-sorts, recycles and re-sells used clothing and shoes for fashion brands, retailers, and industrial partners via facilities in Germany and the UAE and a network spanning 60+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Textile Recycling Services

NAICS

Textile Product Mills (314)

SIC

Textile Mill Products (2200), Wholesale-Apparel, Piece Goods & Notions (5130)

akta.pro primary industry

Post-Consumer Textile Collection & Sorting (Take-Back/Charity/Reverse Logistics) (IMAOAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Recycling Process Equipment & Automation (Sorting Tech/NIR/Robotics) (IMAOAMAG)

Keywords

• Textile recycling services
• Used clothing sorting
• Shoe recycling plant
• Fiber-to-fiber recycling
• Circular economy textiles

Headquarters

HQ city

Ahrensburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Second-hand Textile Sales (Re-Commerce): Sale of sorted and graded second-hand clothing and shoes worldwide. Products are sorted into over 300 categories and shipped to international markets.
2. Collection and Processing Fees: Fees charged to retailers and brands for take-back collection services, sorting, and recycling of used textiles and footwear. Revenue from industry and retail partners for Re-Value program services including surplus production, returned goods, and defective items.
3. Secondary Raw Materials Sales: Sale of recycled materials including fibers for insulation in automotive and construction industries, separated shoe components (rubber, leather, metal) for manufacturing.
4. Consulting Services: Consulting fees for implementing circular economy concepts and processes into business models.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SOEX is a German textile recycling company founded in 1977 that collects, sorts, recycles, and trades used clothing and shoes on an industrial scale. The company operates the I:CO take-back system and runs the world's first dedicated shoe recycling plant, leveraging proprietary AI-powered material recognition sorting technology to automate grade classification of mixed textile streams.

Product overview

SOEX operates as a comprehensive textile and footwear circular economy platform offering end-to-end services across the entire value chain. The portfolio consists of core service offerings including Collecting, Sorting, Sorting for Recycling, Recycling, Re-Commerce, Re-Value, and Consulting, supported by the I:CO Take-Back System sub-brand for retail take-back solutions. The company operates two major processing facilities (Wolfen, Germany and Sharjah, UAE) and has developed proprietary AI-powered Automated Material Recognition technology for automated textile sorting. SOEX's services follow the international waste hierarchy, prioritizing reuse over recycling, with a zero-waste philosophy and goal of keeping 100% of used textiles in the product cycle.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Collecting

Quantifiable outcome

• 25,000 pairs of safety shoes saved from incineration annually with Mercedes-Benz partnership
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CIRCULAR REPUBLICcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Strategic alliance to advance circular economy principles within the company and invest in a sustainable future. Goal: to close the loop along the entire textile industry value chain. SOEX gains access to start-up ecosystem, learning programs, and latest research results. Partnership part of Circular Textile Platform under UnternehmerTUM.
• Mercedes-Benz AGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2023Pilot project for recycling safety shoes from Sindelfingen plant. SOEX collects approximately 25 tonnes (25,000 pairs) of shoes annually and recycles them at Wolfen facility, recovering rubber, leather and metal components.
• DBL BögecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2023Contract to recycle workwear ecologically. Discarded workwear sorted by SOEX and reintroduced into textile cycle as raw material for yarn production. 25 tonnes of clothing recycled annually. Also includes DBL Wulff and DBL Richter.
• Tally WeijlcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2022Expanded cooperation for collecting worn clothing throughout Europe. In-store take-back system in Switzerland, France, and additional EU countries. Customers receive 10% voucher. Fashion retailer with 800+ stores in 39 countries.
• Fashion for GoodcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2022Cooperation partner for 'Sorting for Circularity' report. SOEX provided information on sorted goods and transparency on sorting processes. Used automated infrared sorting station for material composition analysis of 21 tonnes of post-consumer garments.
• Sneaker RescueminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Partnership with start-up Sneaker Rescue to give worn shoes a second life.
• In-CycleminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018English partner in shoe recycling development, collaborated on creating appropriate plant for separating shoe components.
• Eco TLCminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018French partner in shoe recycling development, collaborated on creating appropriate plant for separating shoe components for recycling.
• RESYNTEX Project ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015EU-funded €9 million research project on chemical treatment of old textiles for conversion into secondary raw materials. Led by SOEX. Resulted in automated sorting for recycling technology.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Worn Again Technologies: UK-based chemical recycler developing proprietary polymer separation technology to recover polyester and cotton from blended textiles for fiber-to-fiber recycling. Comparable to SOEX's 'Sorting for Recycling' value chain but focused on the downstream chemical recovery step rather than sorting itself.
• Circ: US-based textile recycler using hydrothermal processes to separate polyester and cellulose from blended garments for reuse. Operates in the same fiber-to-fiber recycling value chain that SOEX's NIR sorting feeds into, making it both a potential feedstock customer and a forward-integrating competitor.
• Infinited Fiber Company: Finnish fiber-to-fiber recycling technology company converting textile waste into regenerated cellulose fibers (Infinna). Operates downstream of the sorting step that SOEX specializes in, making it a complementary feedstock customer and a potential competitive threat if it integrates upstream.

Direct peers

• Re&Up (Sanko Holdings): Turkey-headquartered recycler (part of Sanko Group) producing recycled cotton and polyester fibers from post-consumer textiles at industrial scale. Directly competes with SOEX in fiber-to-fiber recycling and second-hand textile processing for European brands.
• Recover (Recover Brands / Hilaturas Ferre): Spanish recycled cotton fiber producer that processes post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste into new cotton fibers. Comparable to SOEX's recycling output stream and competes for textile waste feedstock supply.
• BÖR Group (Böhmer & Böhmer): German family-owned textile recycling group operating collection, sorting and second-hand wholesale similar to SOEX, with comparable European geographic focus. Directly competes with SOEX for charity partnership volumes and re-commerce downstream customers.
• Texaid Group: Swiss-headquartered textile collection and sorting operator with strong DACH presence, providing charity donation collection, sorting into reuse/recycling streams, and re-commerce wholesale. Texaid is the closest direct competitor to SOEX in European post-consumer textile sorting.

Regional players

• Sysco Industries / Sysco Global Software-Enabled (alternative: Sysco Industrial): India-based textile recycling and used clothing sorting operator serving Asian, African and Middle Eastern re-commerce markets with manual and semi-automated sorting facilities. Comparable business model to SOEX's re-commerce and sorting operations but geographically concentrated in South Asia.

Broad incumbents

• Remondis (Recycling division): German-headquartered global waste management and recycling conglomerate with growing textile recycling capabilities. As a capital-rich incumbent entering post-consumer textile sorting and take-back, Remondis represents both a large-scale competitor and a potential acquisition counterparty for SOEX.
• Andritz Lenzing Technocore / Andritz Textile Recycling: Austrian industrial machinery and process technology group providing recycling and separation equipment to the textile and nonwoven industries. Comparable to SOEX's NIR-based sorting technology but as a broad equipment supplier rather than a recycling operator.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/soex.de
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/soex-textil-vermarktungsgesellschaft
• Instagraminstagram.com/ico_soex/?hl=de

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SOEX