🧶 NovaTextile

The Operating System for Circular Fashion. Management of textile lifecycles, sustainable sourcing, and fiber-to-fiber recycling loops.

NovaTextile is the Vertical Sector dedicated to closing the loop on fashion. While NovaRetail handles the consumer transaction (buying/selling), NovaTextile handles the Material Engineering of the loop. It connects Brands, Sorters, and Recyclers to ensure that old shirts become new yarn, not landfill.

It provides the infrastructure for the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) specific to garments.

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🎯 Value Proposition

The fashion industry produces 92 million tons of waste annually. NovaTextile solves the data gaps that prevent recycling:

1. Composition Truth: Tracking exact fiber blends (e.g., "60% Cotton / 40% Elastane") to determine recyclability.
2. Automated Sorting: Integrating with sorting centers to direct garments to Mechanical Recycling (cutting), Chemical Recycling (dissolving), or Re-wear.
3. Regulatory Compliance: ensuring brands meet the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) targets mandated by the EU.

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🏗️ Architecture (The Digital Thread)

NovaTextile acts as the domain controller for fiber data. It relies on NovaMaterial for the base passport structure but adds textile-specific logic (e.g., yarn spinning data, dye toxicity).

graph TD
    User((Brand Manager)) -->|HTTPS| UI[NovaTextile Dashboard]
    UI -->|REST| API[NovaTextile API]
    
    subgraph "The Physical Layer"
        API -->|Command| Infra[NovaInfra]
        Infra -->|MQTT| Sorter[NIR Sorting Machine]
    end

    subgraph "The Intelligence Layer"
        Sorter -->|Spectral Data| Mind[NovaMind]
        Mind -->|Fiber ID: Poly-Cotton| API
    end

    subgraph "The Chain of Custody"
        API -->|Mint Passport| Mat[NovaMaterial]
        API -->|Log Recovery| Balance[NovaBalance]
        API -->|Sell Yarn| Trade[NovaTrade]
    end

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Integrated Services

• NovaMaterial: Stores the immutable Digital Product Passport (DPP). NovaTextile enriches this with fashion-specific metadata (season, dye lot, weave type).
• NovaMind: The sorting brain. Analyzes data from Near-Infrared (NIR) sensors to identify fiber composition in fraction of a second.
• NovaRecycle: Manages the physical facility where sorting happens. NovaTextile provides the logic for the sorting machines.
• NovaTrade: The marketplace where "Recycled Pulp" or "Reclaimed Yarn" is sold back to brands.

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✨ Key Features

1. The Fiber-to-Fiber Orchestrator

Connects the downstream recycler with the upstream designer.

• Input: 10 tons of "Post-Consumer Waste" collected via NovaLogistics.
• Process: NovaMind identifies 3 tons of pure white cotton.
• Output: NovaTextile creates a "Raw Material Lot" in NovaTrade for chemical recyclers to bid on.

2. DPP Generator (Fashion Edition)

A specialized tool for Fashion Designers.

• Instead of manual data entry, it pulls data from PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems.
• Generates the QR code that must be sewn into the garment by law.
• Metrics: Calculates the "Circular Design Score" based on ease of disassembly (e.g., monomaterial vs. mixed blends).

3. Chemical Management (ZDHC)

Integrates with NovaChem to track dyes and finishes.

• Ensures that recycled fibers do not contain banned legacy chemicals (PFAS/heavy metals).
• Flags batches that are unsafe for "next-to-skin" reuse.

4. Brand Impact Dashboard

Real-time EPR tracking.

• "You put 50,000 tons of polyester into the market."
• "You successfully recovered 12,000 tons."
• "Net Circularity Gap: 76%."

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🚀 Getting Started

We use DevContainers to provide a consistent development environment.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop
• VS Code (with Remote Containers extension)

Installation

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/novaeco-tech/novatextile.git
   cd novatextile

2. Open in VS Code:
   • Run code .
   • Click "Reopen in Container" when prompted.
3. Start the Sector:

   make dev

   • Dashboard: http://localhost:3000
   • API: http://localhost:8000/docs

Configuration (.env)

# Sector Config
SORTING_ALGORITHM=NIR_SPECTROSCOPY_V2
COMPLIANCE_STANDARD=EU_ECODESIGN_2026

# Integrations
NOVAMATERIAL_URL=http://novamaterial-api:8000
NOVAMIND_URL=http://novamind-api:50051
NOVACHEM_URL=http://novachem-api:8000

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📂 Repository Structure

novatextile/
├── api/                # Python/FastAPI (Domain Logic)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── fibers/     # Logic for composition math (blends)
│   │   ├── dpp/        # Builders for Fashion Passports
│   │   └── sorting/    # Logic for NIR machine integration
├── app/                # React/Next.js Frontend (Brand Dashboard)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── designer/   # UI for creating new Passports
│   │   └── analytics/  # Circularity charts
├── website/            # Documentation (Docusaurus)
└── tests/              # Integration tests

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🧪 Testing

We use Composition Simulation for testing.

• Fiber Logic: make test-fiber
  • Asserts that a blend of 60% Cotton + 40% Polyester is correctly flagged as "Mechanical Recycling: Difficult / Chemical Recycling: Recommended."
• Sorting Flow: make test-sort
  • Simulates a stream of 100 garments passed to the API, verifying they are routed to the correct virtual bins based on their metadata.

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🤝 Contributing

We need contributors with backgrounds in Textile Engineering, Supply Chain, and Standards (GS1/EPCIS). See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Maintainers: @novaeco-tech/maintainers-sector-novatextile