Since its launch in 2022, the programme has collected almost 8,000 kg (eight tonnes) of cotton and given away approximately 100 roll mats to those in need.
Run by Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated, the initiative is calling on UK fashion brands and retailers to sign up for free.
The programme was launched to create an avenue for brands to dispose of cotton clothing without sending it to landfill.
Garments which contain at least 85% cotton are donated to be sorted and have all buttons, zips and hardware removed before being taken to a natural cotton fibre reprocessor.
Once reprocessed into a cotton-based non-woven pad, the material is provided to Devon-based natural bedding supplier Naturalmat to make roll mats.
Each roll mat contains 6.4kg of unwearable cotton, equivalent to 45 T-shirts.
The mats are then turned into mattresses to be sent to Shelter and the Single Homeless Project.
The charities gift them to people at risk of homelessness as part of their first essential products package when moving to a hostel or as part of their new home kit once they have been found a more permanent place of residence.
Many brands currently take part in the programme including Charles Tyrwhitt, Hush, Whistles, Hobbs, L’Estrange, Anthropologie, Paige, Bianca Saunders, Nexvision and Me+Em.
Kim Kitchings, senior vice president of Cotton Incorporated, said: “We are thrilled to see so much interest and participation in the Cotton Lives On recycling programme for 2025.
“By joining the programme, fashion brands, retailers and consumers can help keep cotton’s circularity going by diverting cotton waste from landfill, while also helping people at risk of homelessness by providing them with a roll mat made from the recycled cotton.”
It is a complementary campaign to the US version “Blue Jeans Go Green” which has recycled over 5.6 million pairs of jeans and diverted over 2,832 tonnes of denim from landfill since its launch in 2022.
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