The Department of Energy Puts $3 Million Behind the End of Fashion's Polyester Problem

Washington has decided polyester deserves a second act. The Department of Energy is backing Protein Evolution with $3 million to scale enzymes engineered to break down polyester textiles into reusable raw material rather than let them end up in a landfill. The project teams the company with Xytel and a national laboratory, the kind of pairing federal grants reserve for technology meant to leave the lab, not stay in it. The stated aim is cost-competitive PET textile recycling — the line that separates an industry from a demonstration. For a closet built on polyester blends, from gowns to gala suiting, that line is the whole story.

With reporting from WWD.