100 WATER HEROES: ALFREDO FERRE GARCÍA

Managing Director of Hilaturas Ferre

Alfredo Ferre Garcia is the Managing Director of Hilaturas Ferre, a company that turns “textile waste in to the world’s finest quality recycled yarns.” The Ferre Company was founded over 100 years ago and, in 1947, began transforming textile waste into cotton yarn. Ever since, they have been committed to pioneering sustainable materials and processes.

In 2006, they named their system of textile waste collection and recycling The Recover Upcycled Textile System which is now led by a team of experts in the textiles, fashion and sustainability fields. From its conception, The Ferre Company has held the belief that upcycling is the most effective way to sustainably transform the fashion industry. In 2017 alone, Recover saved over 43.1 billion litres of water through their upcycling initiatives.

Under the leadership of the third generation of Ferres, The Ferre Company is a key player in the sustainable and recycled textile sector. Alfredo speaks on their collaborations with important fashion stakeholders, and how using their approach has already saved massive amounts of water:

"The impact of water, electricity and chemical savings reaches very high values. Two years ago we worked with H&M and in less than five months, which was what it took us to manufacture 300 tons of clothing, they saved two million liters of water".

Alfredo is one of our #100WaterHeroes for leading Hilatura Fer and Recover in their goal to transform the fashion industry by upcycling textile waste into valuable products.