Tereform is a Denver-based startup on a mission to enable circularity within the fashion and textile industries. The startup is developing a novel chemical strategy that can transform waste textile materials, such as polyester, back into the chemical building blocks they were made from for reuse.

The founders, Mikhail Konev and Kevin Sullivan, researchers out of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), began their entrepreneurial journey through the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) Energy I-Corps program in 2021. During Cohort 13’s two-month curriculum, funded by the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, they pivoted several times before landing on the textile recycling problem they’re solving today.

Mikhail and Kevin founded Tereform after graduating from Energy I-Corps and Mikhail has since applied for and was accepted into NREL’s West Gate program. West Gate is a two-year Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program where the company can continue to leverage NREL’s lab space and R&D resources while participating in entrepreneurial training and business mentorship. The close ties to NREL through West Gate allow the company to further prove out the technical pathways identified during Energy I-Corps while establishing their roots in the startup community. Tereform recently won the H&M Foundation’s 2023 Global Change Award and is currently in discussions with several potential brand partners.

Today, we are catching up with Tereform’s co-founders, Kevin Sullivan, CEO, and Mikhail Konev, CTO, to learn more about the milestones they have achieved since going through the Energy I-Corps program.