In June, athletes from 16 countries will kick off the World Cup wearing other people’s used clothing. Well, maybe. They’ll be sporting uniforms made from recycled fabric, potentially including a mix of scraps and old clothes. It’s the latest initiative from Nike, one of the world’s largest apparel companies, to incorporate more recycled material into the attire it makes. This time, the garment giant said it used “ advanced chemical recycling ” to produce its first elite performance apparel from 100 percent textile waste. Nike executives and some media coverage have implied that the outfits represent a turning point for sustainable fashion—that “circular” clothing, capable of being recycled over and over again, could soon reach everyday consumers. The real picture, as you might expect, is a bit more complicated. Nike has indeed signed deals with two chemical recycling companies, but no one is saying much about their technology or how scalable it is.…