Textile Recycling

What Textile Recycling does

D Robinson & Company Textile Recyclers (D Robinson & Co Ltd, Registered No. 08224284) is a privately held, family-run textile recycling business founded in 1984 and headquartered in Desborough, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. The company collects unwanted clothing, textiles, shoes, and handbags from a national network of charity partners (including British Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, Salvation Army, Age UK, Barnardos, RSPCA, Mind, and YMCA), local authorities, and waste management companies, using its own fleet of lorries, vans, and trailers. Inbound material is processed at a single purpose-built factory on a conveyor-belt sorting and grading system executed by experienced human graders, then compressed into 45–55kg bales via three twin African bailers or 300–500kg bales via a double swivel box bailer in a fully covered loading area. The company ships sorted and graded product to international clothing importers and exporters in Africa, Asia, and Europe via sea containers, and also supplies larger domestic bales of wipers, wools, and synthetics to UK industries alongside carpet, underlay, and mattress linings.

The business operates an asset-heavy, vertically integrated B2B model with no public pricing, no disclosed contracts, and no e-commerce or app channel. Marketing is conducted almost entirely through the charity partnership network and the company's own website rather than paid channels. Throughput is stated at over 120 tonnes per week and 6,000 tonnes per year, supported by a workforce of approximately 50 employees. The firm holds a Waste Carriers Licence and relevant exemption licences, and is wholly founder/family-owned with no disclosed parent, institutional shareholders, venture capital, or private equity investment; no leadership team, M&A history, or funding rounds are publicly disclosed. There is no evidence of AI/ML capability, software platform, or technology stack beyond mechanical sorting and baling equipment.

Name

Textile Recycling

Legal name

D Robinson & Co Ltd

Website

https://drobinsontextilerecyclers.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

D Robinson & Company Textile Recyclers is a family-run UK textile recycler founded in 1984 that collects clothing and textiles from charities and local authorities, sorts and bales them at its Desborough factory, and exports the graded product to clothing importers in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Textile Recycling Services

NAICS

Solid Waste Collection (562111), Recyclable Material Merchant Wholesalers (42393), Other Waste Collection (562119)

SIC

Wholesale-Apparel, Piece Goods & Notions (5130), Apparel & Other Finishd Prods Of Fabrics & Similar Matl (2300)

akta.pro primary industry

Textile & Apparel Recycling and Sorting (Non-E-waste) (BPALADAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Industrial Laundry & Textile Waste Services (Non-hazardous) (EUAIAGAI), Donation Pickup & Reuse Hauling (HSAKALAI)

Keywords

• Textile recycling
• Used clothing export
• Textile waste processing
• Clothing baling services
• Charity textile collection

Headquarters

HQ city

Desborough

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Textile and Clothing Export: Sale of sorted and graded recycled textiles, clothing, shoes and handbags to clothing importers and exporters worldwide. Products are shipped in sea containers to Africa, Asia and Europe.
2. Industrial Wiping Cloths: Larger bales of wipers cloth, wools and synthetics bound and shipped to various UK industries for processing into wiping cloths, offering a cheaper and ethical alternative to paper-based products.
3. Carpet and Mattress Materials: Other materials including carpets, underlay and mattress linings sent for processing within the UK.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

D Robinson & Co is a family-run textile recycling company that collects unwanted clothing, textiles, shoes and handbags from charity shops, textile banks, recycling centres, local authorities and waste management companies across the UK using its own fleet of vehicles. The collected material is processed through a proprietary sorting and grading conveyor-belt system, baled (45kg-500kg), and either exported in sea containers to clothing importers and exporters in Africa, Asia and Europe, or converted into wiping cloths and recycled carpet/underlay materials for UK industrial customers.

Product overview

D Robinson & Co is a family-run textile recycling company operating a single integrated service for collecting, processing, and distributing recycled textiles. The core offering combines a textile recycling collection service that gathers clothing, shoes, and handbags from charity partners and local authorities, processed through their sorting and grading facility into graded bales for export to international markets (Africa, Asia, Europe) and domestic industrial applications including wiping cloths and recycled carpet/underlay materials. The company operates with a fleet of collection vehicles, conveyor belt sorting systems, twin African bailers, and a double swivel box bailer, processing over 6,000 tonnes annually.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 million tonnes of textiles still end up in UK landfill every year
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• British Red CrosscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling. Works with local and national charity organisations to collect unwanted clothing, diverting material from landfill.
• Age UKcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• BarnardoscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Arthritis ResearchcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• MindcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• RSPCAcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• St Lukes HospicecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Salvation ArmycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMajor charity partner supported nationally. Provides textile donations for recycling.
• Cats ProtectioncoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Cransley HospicecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Cynthia Spencer HospicecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Fire Fighters AssociationcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• StarlightcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• YMCAcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCharity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Fire Fighters CharitycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational charity partner providing textile donations for recycling.
• Cancer Research UKcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMajor national charity partner supported. Provides textile donations for recycling.
• Local AuthoritiescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMunicipal government bodies partnering for textile recycling collection services on a national basis.
• Waste Management CompaniescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWaste management companies partnering for professional textile recycling collection services.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Renewcell: Swedish textile-to-textile recycler producing dissolving pulp from sorted used clothing; an emerging threat to traditional textile sorters if circular fibre-to-fibre economics scale.
• Re&Up: Italy-based textile recycler focused on fibre-to-fibre recycling from post-consumer garments; positioned as a circular-fashion alternative that could pressure traditional sort-and-export recyclers like D Robinson.
• Worn Again Technologies: UK-based chemical-recycling start-up focused on textile-to-textile recycling; competes for the same inbound feedstock stream and represents a technology-enabled next-generation alternative to manual sortation.
• Oxfam Wychwood (Oxfam Online Shop / Wychwood): UK charity running large-scale textile collection and resale operations, operating partly in D Robinson's charity-supply value chain and competing for donated textile volumes.

Direct peers

• TRAID: UK charity that collects, sorts and re-sells second-hand clothing; overlaps with D Robinson's charity-partner collection stream and competes for similar donated-textile supply.
• I:CO (I:Collect): Global take-back and textile-sortation platform operating reusable clothing collection schemes for retailers and charities; competes head-to-head with D Robinson for the same charity-shop and textile-bank feedstock.
• Calleva Trading: UK-based textile recycling and used-clothing exporter running a similar sort, bale and ship-to-international-markets model from a UK processing facility.
• Novetex: Hong Kong-based textile recycler and yarn manufacturer with global textile-sorting operations comparable to D Robinson's grading-and-export activities.
• Bank & Vogue: One of the world's largest textile reuse and recycling operators with a similar sort/grade-and-export business model serving clothing importers and exporters across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
• SOEX Group: German-headquartered global textile recycler and sorter with multi-country collection and grade-to-export operations targeting the same secondhand apparel and wiper end-markets as D Robinson.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/textile-recycling

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Textile Recycling