File 0201Updated 2026-07-26Owns textile sorting software
Textile sorting software that reads what the garment already says.
A sorter decides the fate of a garment in about two seconds, and nothing of that judgement survives as data. TexFile runs as software on the cameras a plant already operates: it reads the sewn in labels, returns a routing answer inside the line's latency budget, and keeps a record of the decision that an auditor can still follow months later.
§For sorters and recyclersThe decision the line cannot currently record
Post consumer textiles arrive mixed, unlabelled in any machine readable sense, and in volumes that only a moving belt can absorb. The sorter reads a label, feels the fabric, and throws. The judgement is often good. It is also invisible: no downstream party can see what it was based on, and the operator cannot prove a fraction's composition to the recycler who buys it.
That gap is what turns good material into a low value fraction. Where composition cannot be evidenced, the buyer prices for the worst case, and the material is downgraded for a lack of data rather than a lack of quality.
What the software does on the belt
- Reads the sewn in documentation
- Composition, care, origin and brand, from labels in any orientation, language or condition, including faded and partially obscured ones.
- Normalizes into EU vocabularies
- Raw label text becomes controlled terms: fibre names under Regulation 1007/2011, care symbols under the ISO 3758 vocabulary, country and brand fields resolved against the record store.
- Scores every field
- Each value carries a calibrated confidence. The operator sets the threshold for accepting one automatically; at 0.9 roughly a quarter of items clear the gate on their own.
- Answers the router
- A fraction recommendation returns inside a 50 ms ceiling, sustained at 23,800 items per hour under 16 concurrent requests.
- Routes the rest to assisted review
- Items below the threshold reach a person with the evidence already assembled, and every correction is written back with its provenance.
How it lands in an existing plant
Capture
Multi view capture on the cameras the line already has, or a compact station added at one position. No rebuild of the conveyor, no new sensing hardware.
Edge unit
Reading and scoring run on an edge unit at the facility, so the line does not depend on a network round trip to keep moving.
Routing call
The sorting control system asks for a fraction and gets an answer, with the confidence attached, inside its existing timing budget.
Record store
Every item leaves behind a record. It is queryable by fraction, by period and by field, and exportable to the parties who need to see it.
Where sensing ends and reading begins
Near infrared and hyperspectral units read the outer fabric and return a material signal. That signal is useful and TexFile does not replace it. It also cannot tell you the declared blend behind a coating, the care instructions, the country of manufacture or the brand, and it produces no record that outlives the moment of measurement.
| Question on the line | Sensing answers | A verified record answers |
|---|---|---|
| What fibre is this | The dominant fibre of the outer surface, as a spectral reading. | The declared blend with its percentages, as the manufacturer stated it, with a confidence per value. |
| Can it be recycled here | Partly, from the material signal alone. | With the blend, the care treatment and the trims accounted for, and the basis recorded. |
| Why did this item go to this fraction | No answer after the moment of measurement. | A stored record naming the sources read, the values extracted and the confidence at the time. |
| Can the buyer verify the fraction | Not from the signal. | Per fraction evidence, exportable as chain of custody events. |
What the operator gets out of it
Sorting operators
Higher value fractions from the same input, and a defensible basis for how material was split.
A routing answer per item with the evidence retained, and fraction level records the buyer can inspect.
Fibre to fibre recyclers
Feedstock whose composition is more than the seller's word.
Composition with provenance on every field and a calibrated confidence instead of a binary claim.
Operators reporting to schemes
Mass flow figures that hold up when the scheme or the authority asks how they were produced.
Per fraction evidence generated at the line rather than reconstructed from estimates afterwards.
What the records conform to
- Regulation (EU) 1007/2011
- Fibre names as the regulation defines them, so a composition reads the same to every party.
- EPCIS
- Custody events in the standard vocabulary, ready for the recycler and the scheme.
- GS1 Digital Link
- Identifiers that resolve, so a fraction or an item can be pointed at from outside the plant.
- EU Digital Product Passport
- The same record projects into the passport format when a customer needs one.
Common questions
What is textile sorting software?
Software that decides, per item on a sorting line, which fraction the item belongs in, and records why. Automated textile sorting has so far meant hardware that senses material. TexFile reads the garment's own care and composition labels instead, normalizes them into EU vocabularies, and returns a scored routing answer inside the line's latency budget.
Does it require new sorting hardware?
No. It is a software retrofit on the cameras a plant already operates, with reading and scoring running on an edge unit at the facility. Plants that already run near infrared sensing keep it: the two answer different questions and the record carries both kinds of evidence.
How fast is the routing answer?
A fraction recommendation returns inside a 50 ms ceiling, sustained at 23,800 items per hour under 16 concurrent requests. Items whose confidence falls below the operator's threshold are sent to assisted review rather than held on the belt.
What happens to items the software is unsure about?
They go to assisted review with the evidence already gathered, so a person judges the ambiguous case instead of checking every item on the belt. Each correction is written back with its provenance and improves the record store for the items that follow.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and labellingEUR-Lex
- KrWG §20 · separate collection of used textiles in GermanyBundesministerium der Justiz
File 0103Published 2026-07-26≈ 6 min read
Fibre composition verification at line speed
Laboratory testing and NIR sensing both stop short of what a sorting line needs. The composition label every garment already carries does not.
File 0104Published 2026-07-26≈ 7 min read
The EPR and ESPR timeline for textile sorters
Five EU and German instruments, their dates, and what each one actually changes for a sorter, a recycler or a producer responsibility scheme.
File 0106Published 2026-07-26≈ 6 min read
Chain of custody for recycled textiles
Segregation and mass balance both assume a producer at the top of the chain. Post consumer textiles do not have one. What replaces the certificate.
Run it against your own line.
Tell us the throughput, the camera positions and the fractions you sort into. We will show what a record from your material looks like.
Book a demo