This thesis examined the possibilities of utilizing recycled textile fibers in industrial processes around the world and in Finland. It was a study for a project called Textile 2.0. The purpose of the thesis was to discover how recycled textile fibers are currently utilized around the world and how they could be utilized in Finland. The most important goal was to find Finnish industrial companies that could utilize recycled textile fibers in their processes in the future. In addition, the aim was to determine the possibilities and requirements of business for these companies.

In the beginning of the thesis the concept of recycling of textile is covered along with the current practice in Finland. The theory section focuses on different ways to utilize textile waste. If material utilization is not possible, textile waste will be manufactured into fibers. This thesis concentrated on fibers manufactured out of consumer textile waste i.e. end-of-life textile and their utilization possibilities.

Firstly, the subject was approached in an international context by researching companies that manufacture recycled fibers and produced products such as the insulation material from recycled fibers. The goal of this was to find out how recycled fibers are utilized around the world. On the basis of the research, similar operators were searched in Finland for interviews. In addition to companies that could potentially utilize recycled fibers, other parties were also interviewed in order to achieve a better understanding of the whole situation. These parties were companies currently utilizing recycled fibers and experts of the subject. The chosen interview type was a theme interview, and interviews were mainly conducted via phone.

On the basis of these interviews, it would seem that in the future, recycled textile fibers could be utilized in industrial processes in Finland. However, before wide scale utilization is possible, more research and analysis as well as product development and testing are needed. Possible applications to recycled textile fibers could be found from the automobile industry, insulations or filling materials which are common abroad.