Cyclothe appoints Calvin Woolley as chief executive officer to drive European expansion

Swedish circular technology company Cyclothe has entered its next phase of commercial growth with the appointment of Calvin Woolley as co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO). Woolley will lead the transition of Cyclothe from technology validation to the international deployment and commercial scale-up of its Circular Resource Infrastructure.

Woolley brings over 25 years of international textile industry leadership, including 15 years driving global textile sustainability and circularity initiatives at Inter Ikea. In his previous role leading global textile sustainability strategy, he spearheaded large-scale sustainable transformation, responsible sourcing frameworks and circular supply chain integration. A textile engineer by background, Woolley brings an understanding of end-to-end supply chains, enterprise brand requirements and structural friction within circular systems.

Transition to commercial deployment

The executive appointment marks an intentional shift as Cyclothe moves from proprietary technology development to widespread commercial deployment. Rather than operating as an isolated recycling or waste-management vendor, Cyclothe is building an integrated physical and digital infrastructure connecting citizens, retailers, municipalities, extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems and secondary markets into a single, fully traceable resource loop.

By combining smart intake points, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven identification and data-backed sorting logistics, the technology systematically prioritises reuse, repair and repurposing before mechanical or chemical recycling, keeping products and fibres at their highest financial and material value.

“We have spent the past years building the underlying technology, developing our system architecture, and proving the operating model,” said Halit Kosmaz, founder of Cyclothe. “Bringing Calvin into Cyclothe as Co-founder and CEO marks our deliberate transition from developing infrastructure to deploying it commercially at industrial scale. His deep command of the global textile value chain, global brand dynamics, and supply chain transformation gives us the exact leadership required to navigate this next phase.”

“It is clear that the global textile sector does not suffer from a lack of circular ambition. It suffers from a lack of functioning infrastructure. What we’re missing is an infrastructure capable of managing new legislation in a commercially viable way—an infrastructure where measurable, high-value reverse flows can actually be built at scale,” said Woolley. “Cyclothe is building that exact missing layer, linking people, products, cities, brands, and recyclers through one connected, intelligent system. That is why I am proud to join not only as the CEO, to lead the company but also as a Co-founder, to help scale this vision alongside its founder, Halit, and our partners.”

Strategic focus and future market outlook

Cyclothe enters the executive transition following pilot validation across Swedish innovation ecosystems, municipal programs and urban transition testbeds.

Under the leadership of Woolley, the company will focus on accelerating rollouts of the smart collection network and AI-powered sorting architecture across municipal districts, retail partners and regional waste frameworks in the Nordics and broader Europe and expanding the traceable downstream marketplace, establishing commercial conduits for certified reuse, resale and high-grade textile recycling partners.