Dive Brief:
- Recycled textile company Repreve is launching a white, dyable filament yarn and an insulation material, according to a press release shared with Fashion Dive.
- Both products are made from 100% recycled materials, including recycled polyester with at least 50% textile waste, per the release.
- Repreve is a division of Unifi, and the company said that the two new products make Repreve “the largest portfolio of regenerated performance polyester in the world.” Unifi said it will partner with global brands to take back their waste.
Dive Insight:
The products will be debuted globally during the Intertextile Apparel Fabrics Shanghai trade show from Aug. 27-29, but the products are both available now, per the release.
“Textile brands can now create solutions with the entire product life cycle in mind and work towards achieving their 2030 environmentally preferred materials targets,” Unifi CEO Eddie Ingle said in the release. “Our goal is to provide the best-in-class sustainable products that eliminate the need for virgin materials and reduce carbon emissions.”
The newly announced filament yarn is white, meets virgin-quality standards and can be dyed through standard dying processes. The insulation material, called ThermaLoop, can be used in multiple applications including as padding, down-like fiber and fiberballs, per the release. It’s built to be fast-drying, lightweight and machine washable.
The company added that the new products can be integrated into existing supply chains.
“This commercial scalability tackles a key challenge for polyester-reliant industries, particularly fashion brands, which have long sought to create circular apparel to meet sustainability goals,” Unifi said in the release.
The products relate to Unifi’s goal of recycling 1.5 billion T-shirts’ worth of textile waste by the 2030 fiscal year, per the release.
Repreve makes fiber from post-consumer plastic bottles and waste textiles, and its fiber sales represents 30% of Unifi’s net sales, according to its 2023 annual report. Its Textile Takeback process additionally recycles post-industrial textile waste and changes them into “next generation materials,” per the release.
Earlier this year, Repreve launched a new filament yarn made from recycled plastic bottles and designed to feel similar to traditional cotton, acrylic, rayon and other spun yarns.
