Helene Smits, Chief Sustainability Officer at Recover™, Nominated for Rivet 50 2022

MADRID--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Helene Smits, Chief Sustainability Officer at Recover™, has been unveiled as one of the most influential people in the denim industry in the category Sustainability, with the release of the 2022 Rivet 50 index.

Published each year by Rivet magazine, Rivet 50 is now in its fifth year of activity, and this year the index recognizes individuals across five categories: design, leadership, sustainability, influencers, and supply chain. The list includes denim experts, professionals and enthusiasts that are changing the industry as we know it. Most of the nominees are often highly valued in the minds of their peers and serve as the face and voice of their company.

As Chief Sustainability Officer, Helene Smits has been an integral part of Recover™ for almost 8 years. She founded Circle Economy’s Textiles Program in 2014 and since then has worked as an independent professional on key industry projects and with leading global organizations to help drive the transition towards a circular, zero waste textiles industry.

Helene is the driving force behind Recover’s continued dedication to maintaining its best-in-class sustainability performance and social responsibility. Through her extensive experience in working with a variety of industry stakeholders, from textile collectors to brands and policy makers, she understands very well the challenges facing the textile industry and also the urgency and opportunity that must be acknowledged in the journey towards a circular fashion system.

“My passion for circular fashion started early 2014, when through my work at Circle Economy, I found myself in the middle of a warehouse filled from top to bottom with discarded clothes. In that moment I realized there must be a better way of organizing this. A smarter way. For me that means closing the loop and making new textiles out of old textiles. Since then, it has been my personal and professional mission to develop new approaches and models that contribute to a circular, zero waste textile industry.”

About Recover™

Recover™ is a leading materials science company and global producer of low-impact, high-quality recycled cotton fiber and cotton fiber blends. Its premium, environmentally friendly, and cost-competitive products are created in partnership with the supply chain for global retailers and brands, offering a sustainable solution to achieve circular fashion for all. As a fourth-generation, family-owned company, and backed by recent investment from STORY3 Capital and Goldman Sachs, Recover™ is on a mission to scale its proprietary technology to make a lasting positive impact on the environment and partner with brands/retailers and other change-makers to meet the industry’s sustainability targets.

For more information, visit www.recoverfiber.com and follow @recoverfiber on social media.