ReHubs has appointed Béatrice Moureaux as its new chief executive officer, placing an experienced technical-textiles executive at the centre of Europe’s efforts to build a stronger textile-to-textile recycling industry.
Moureaux takes over the role from Robert van de Kerkhof, who had been serving as interim CEO. Van de Kerkhof will remain closely involved with ReHubs as chairman of its Board of Directors.
The leadership change comes at a crucial point for Europe’s circular textile economy. While fashion brands increasingly seek recycled fibres, recycling companies still face uncertainty about future demand, making it difficult to justify the large-scale investments needed to expand production capacity.
Moureaux has been part of the ReHubs board since December 2025 and brings more than 25 years of professional experience across technical textiles, advanced fibres and nonwovens.
Her background comes at a time when the recycling industry faces a difficult question: how can Europe create enough demand to encourage investment while ensuring brands have access to sufficient quantities of recycled material?
ReHubs believes that solving this supply-and-demand gap will require closer cooperation between every stage of the textile value chain.
Moureaux said her new role comes at an important moment for both ReHubs and the wider industry. She highlighted collaboration and investment-friendly conditions as essential to moving textile-to-textile recycling from ambition to industrial scale.
The European textile recycling sector has significant potential, but the industry’s economics remain challenging.
Recyclers need confidence that customers will buy recycled fibres before investing heavily in new facilities. At the same time, fashion and textile companies need reliable supplies of recycled fibres to increase the use of circular materials in their products.
This creates a cycle in which limited demand can discourage investment, while limited recycling capacity can make it difficult for brands to secure the materials they need.
ReHubs is now looking to address that problem by encouraging stronger commitments and cooperation across the industry.
The organisation is continuing work outlined in an action plan developed in September 2025 in partnership with Boston Consulting Group.
The strategy focuses on the financial and industrial conditions required to make textile recycling commercially viable in Europe. Its central message is that creating a circular textile economy will require more than improving sorting and recycling technologies.
Infrastructure, investment, stable demand and cooperation between industry participants will all play a role.
ReHubs is also supported by a newly structured board of directors, adding further industry expertise as the organisation works on its longer-term objectives.
Another important element in Europe’s textile circularity ambitions is Extended Producer Responsibility, commonly known as EPR.
Under EPR systems, producers can have greater responsibility for the collection, management and recycling of products once they reach the end of their useful life.
Véronique Allaire Spitzer of French eco-organisation Refashion described EPR as an important mechanism for translating Europe’s circularity ambitions into practical action. However, she also stressed the need for workable solutions and cooperation throughout the value chain.
For ReHubs, that cooperation means connecting stakeholders that have traditionally operated in different parts of the textile ecosystem.
ReHubs brings together organisations involved in different stages of textile recovery and manufacturing, including collection, sorting, spinning, fabric production and brands.
The goal is to create a system in which discarded textiles can return to the manufacturing cycle rather than being sent to landfill or incineration.
The ambition is substantial. ReHubs has set a target of recycling 2.7 million tonnes of textile waste in Europe by 2035.
Moureaux’s appointment therefore comes at more than a routine leadership transition. It signals a renewed focus on one of the biggest challenges facing Europe’s circular fashion ambitions: making textile recycling economically scalable.
For brands, recycled fibres are increasingly important as sustainability expectations and regulatory pressure grow. For recyclers, however, investment decisions depend on whether demand and commercial certainty are sufficient.
Bridging that gap will be one of ReHubs’ most important tasks in the years ahead.
If the organisation can bring recyclers, fibre producers, manufacturers and brands closer together, Europe’s textile industry could move another step toward a system where waste becomes a dependable source of new materials rather than an end point.
