Exclusive: Debrand Grows Circular Logistics Capacity with Ohio Opening

Canadian-based firm Debrand —which specializes in “next-life logistics” for apparel merchandise—has opened its first directly-operated U.S. facility as it seeks to expand its impact in diverting textiles from landfills.

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The 32,000-square-foot facility in Ohio opened last month and is now operational. Automated sorting technology and equipment processes goods for recycling or downcycling, focusing on getting the most value out of garments. In the last 18 months, Debrand’s three existing facilities have processed and kept 4.5 million pounds of textiles out of landfills for brand partners like Everlane and Lululemon , and this Ohio opening will add more capacity and geographic coverage to its operations.

“To have the impact that we want to have as a company, we really need to expand into the U.S.,” Amelia Eleiter, CEO and co-founder at Debrand, told Sourcing Journal. “As the demand for our services and the comprehensive services that we offer continues to grow and scale, it seemed like the right location and right timing to do that.”

The company previously had a U.S. footprint through WM, the North American sustainable waste management firm that made a strategic investment in Debrand in November 2022. The textile reverse-logistics firm uses WM’s facilities in South Carolina and Arizona.

Per Eleiter, Ohio has a number of advantages. For one, the state is a popular spot for fashion brands’ distribution centers, allowing the regional facility to easily receive goods while also reducing travel distance—lowering the transportation impact as well as logistics costs for its customers. It is also near Debrand’s chemical and mechanical recycling partners.

Along with giving Debrand a footprint in the center of the country, the Ohio location is purpose-built for textiles.

Debrand’s solutions center on preparing textile goods for the circular economy. One piece of this offering is sortation, which uses proprietary automation software alongside human intuition to decide what path is best for merchandise—whether it’s resale, recycling or uses like fuel or energy creation. “The automated sorting and the technologies that we’re going to be deploying at that facility is…that necessary step to help textile waste be more quickly, efficiently, accurately identified and then sorted,” said Eleiter. “It’s really going to enable us under one roof to make quick decisions with our clients’ products on ensuring that it does end up in the best next life.”

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The capacity in Ohio will depend on which exact services are being utilized, but the estimate is that around 10 to 20 million pounds of garments will pass through the facility per year in the near future.

While automation excels at determining whether garments match certain specifications for different recyclers, human touch is still needed for more qualitative assessments on whether something is in good enough condition to reuse. In the first year, the Ohio facility will have around 20 to 25 employees, a figure that Eleiter expects will grow over time.

Locally based Victoria’s Secret is among the first Debrand customers that will see goods processed in Columbus. “We are thrilled that Debrand is opening a new facility in our hometown,” said Meghan McLane, director of product sustainability at Victoria’s Secret. “As our partner, Debrand has been instrumental in advancing our end-of-life garment program. This facility is another step in building the infrastructure needed in North America to enable brands to move towards more circular models.”

The demand for post-consumer textile waste solutions is ramping up as companies face scrutiny and regulation—including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes such as legislation introduced in California . “With such a deep understanding of textile waste management, along with their longstanding commitment to sustainability, Debrand is providing critical contributions that will help North America develop practical and scalable solutions to unlock its circular fashion economy,” said Natasha Franck, CEO and founder at EON .

Debrand’s move into Ohio follows the inauguration of its new headquarters and recycling facility in Surrey, British Columbia last September. The “next step” in the company’s expansion will likely be a facility on the West Coast of the U.S., which Eleiter said would probably come “within the next couple of years.”

As Eleiter noted, currently much of North America’s textile waste gets sent internationally, and Debrand’s goal is to more efficiently process goods domestically alongside its partners, being the “proof point” for what is possible in Canada and the U.S. “We are such a massive consumer of apparel in North America, that I just feel like we need to invest in the infrastructure to support us handling our waste and…what we consume, and not shipping it to overseas markets,” she said.

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