Zurich, February 20^th, 2026 – Textile recycling is often described as a chemistry problem. In reality, it is just as much a construction problem.

Seams, stitching and structural connections are designed to last. Once materials are permanently bonded together, separating them again at end of life becomes costly, inefficient or technically unfeasible. Recycling infrastructure is scaling, but garment construction has not kept pace.

CLIMATEX addresses this constraint at its most fundamental level: the thread.

Founded in Switzerland, CLIMATEX develops and licenses engineered construction threads that enable circularity without compromising performance. Its dissolvable construction threads are used in stitching, weaving and knitting. They hold textile structures together throughout the product’s lifetime, ensuring durability and strength. Under defined industrial conditions, however, they can be selectively dissolved, allowing materials and components to be cleanly separated at end of life.

By embedding unlock capability directly into the thread, CLIMATEX enables circular construction without requiring changes to fibres, product performance or manufacturing infrastructure. Its technologies integrate into existing industrial processes and are offered through three product families: STITCHLOCK™, engineered for seam construction; WEAVELOCK™, designed for woven textile structures; and KNITLOCK™, developed for knitted applications.

For us, the investment case was clear.

CLIMATEX operates at Technology Readiness Level 8 and collaborates with international partners including VP Textile, JAB, Interstuhl and Lantal across workwear, interiors, mobility and technical textiles, sectors where durability and compliance are essential, and where end-of-life recovery is becoming increasingly regulated.

As recycling capacity grows and regulation shifts responsibility upstream through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and Digital Product Passports, design decisions made at the construction stage are becoming decisive. CLIMATEX sits precisely at this inflection point.

“We are excited to support CLIMATEX as it enters its next growth phase,” says Michael Kleindl, Founding Partner at Collateral Good. “The company’s patented circular textile technologies are strongly protected and ready to scale. They align directly with our focus on deep tech and circular material systems.”

CLIMATEX’s CHF 3.2 million financing round will support the company’s commercial expansion and global adoption through its asset-light licensing model, enabling industrial partners to integrate circular construction within existing manufacturing environments.

Circularity does not only require better recycling. It requires better design.

CLIMATEX is rethinking textile construction, one thread at a time.