Puma scales up textile-to-textile recycling technology
Since the launch of the pilot in 2022, which saw Puma produce recycled training jerseys for their sponsored football clubs, Re:Fibre technology has been used to create Switzerland and Morocco replica kits for the Women’s World Cup as well as Girona’s 2023/24 season Third kit.
In 2024, official Puma football replica jerseys including those for the Euro and Copa América tournaments will be manufactured using Re:Fibre recycled materials that were made of old garments and factory waste rather than only recycled plastic bottles.
Through the Re:Fibre programme, Puma is keen to address the challenge of textile waste via a long-term solution for recycling. The technology also looks to diversify the fashion industry’s main source of recycled polyester in garments from being less reliant on clear plastic bottles.
The Re:Fibre process uses any polyester material – from factory offcuts, faulty goods to pre-loved clothes which allows new garments to be recycled from any colour textile to any colour desired.
The four-step process of Re:Fibre sees:
- Collect and Sort: Collecting and sorting textile waste and other previously wasteful materials.
- Shred and Mix: Shredding and mixing the collected materials down to the minimum.
- Dissolve, Filter and Polymerize: Melting down the shredded polyester and ridding them of previous dyes through a chemical recycling process.
- Melt, Spin, Knit and Sew: The melting allows the newly produced polymers to become ready to be spun and sewn into shape to create good as new Re:Fibre fabric which can be recycled again and again.
Managing waste has today become a necessity, which is why Puma is ramping up its investment into resource-efficient manufacturing processes in a move to reduce textile waste.
“Our wish is to have 100% of product polyester coming from textile waste,” said Anne-Laure Descours, chief sourcing officer at Puma. “Textile waste build-up in landfills is an environmental risk. Rethinking the way we produce and moving towards a more circular business model is one of the main priorities of our sustainability strategy.”
To help make the technical process of Re:Fibre more digestible for the everyday consumer who wants to know more, Puma has harnessed the storytelling power of Computer Generated Imagery to take viewers through the Re:Fibre process, right down to the molecular chemistry at work. View the video here.
The video builds on the brand’s ongoing commitment to ensure Puma’s sustainability initiatives are simplified for everyone to engage with. This comes after research conducted by Puma found that 71% of young people felt their voices were not being heard when it comes to the environment and would like to see brands making more commitments (49%), communicating their goals better (40%) and being more transparent (34%).
As part of this commitment to communicate better, Puma released The Re:Gen Reports podcast in June 2023. Making dense information in their Sustainability Report more accessible and tailored to a Gen Z audience.
Puma’s ongoing efforts in sustainability has shown the brand improving its rankings on Corporate Knight’s Global 100 Sustainability Index from 77th to 47th, and the journey is not over.
You can read further on Puma’s sustainability targets and Re:Fibre on foreverbetter.com.
