Lululemon is betting that Epoch Biodesign can eat its shorts, literally

As the world transitions to electricity, the oil and gas industry relies on plastics for future profits. But not if Jacob Nathan has anything to say about it.

Nathan began researching a way to break down plastic when he was still in high school. Now, as founder and CEO of Epoch Biodesign, he’s found a way to use a series of enzymes to “convert this unnatural waste” into a form ready to make more plastic, he told TechCrunch.

“For us, a bundle of textile is equivalent to a barrel of oil,” Nathan said, meaning that textile waste, not oil, is the raw material with which the pressing begins. Unlike a barrel of oil, the price of that raw material will not depend on the weekly whims of world leaders.

Epoch’s approach focuses on breaking down pre- and post-consumer plastic waste into monomers, the building blocks from which plastics are made. To do this, it relies on enzymes, which are the molecular machinery of cells. But because biology can be fickle, the company only uses enzymes, not the microbes that produce them. To source these compounds, Epoch works with industrial suppliers, who already manufacture enzymes by the ton.

Using a series of enzyme treatments, Epoch can recover more than 90% of the required monomers. “The only thing left after our process is the pigments, which are captured and can be handled separately,” Nathan said.

This process is first applied to Nylon 6,6, a high-strength synthetic material used in everything from clothing to airbags, carpets and climbing ropes.

“It’s the original synthetic fiber. That’s what the guys at DuPont were cooking up. The reason we still use it is because it’s really good at what it does. We can’t really replace it in all these applications,” Nathan said.

Nathan said the timing couldn’t be better. “In the past two weeks, prices of nylon 6.6 precursors and other materials on a spot basis have jumped by as much as 150%,” Nathan said. By starting with textile waste instead of oil, Epoch can avoid these fluctuations altogether. “When we separate material production from the extraction, refining and volatilization that comes from fossil carbon, we can create more consistency.”

The idea resonated with investors, including clothing giant Lululemon, which itself produces mountains of clothing made from plastic. Lululemon recently participated in a $12 million funding round that also included Exantia, Happiness Capital, Kompas VC, and Leitmotif.

This increase will help fund a pilot-scale facility near Imperial College London. The company plans to follow this up with a commercial-scale facility it expects to be operational in 2028 that should be able to produce 20,000 metric tons per year of monomer.

Once it reaches full capacity, Nathan said Epoch may begin work on recycling other plastics. He said the technology “can be reused for different types of materials and plastics.” “Nylon 6,6 will reach maturity before others, but we have some exciting things in the pipeline.”