NEMO

In 2022, outdoor firm NEMO Equipment announced the launch of Endless Promise, a blueprint for products featuring high-performing recycled materials, with confirmed pathways for repair, resale and end-of-life recycling. “We started designing for circularity by working backwards,” explained Theresa McKenney director of sustainability & government affairs for NEMO. The team worked directly with textile recyclers from the beginning of the design process to understand their recycling requirements. As a result, Endless Promise products are as mono-polymer as possible. “This required careful fabric and trim component choices from day one,” commented the exec.

The team redesigned its best-selling Forte synthetic sleeping bag as an Endless Promise product. “We swapped out virgin polyester for rPET and made as many trims out of polyester as possible,” McKenney said. The team partnered with Unifi to ensure the bag would pass their recyclability testing. Then they built up infrastructure – in addition to a current in-house repair program, NEMO teamed with Out&Back, entering the resale market and creating what she described as “a reverse logistics pathway.” A QR code sewn into products provides information about repair, resale and recycling. Customers receive a $20 NEMO gift card for turning in gear to recycle.

NEMO is working with advanced molecular recycling startup Ambercycle, along with ALLIED Feather + Down and Unifi, to tackle products that are materially complex, like down sleeping bags and backpacks.

E.DYE

e.dye is a waterless color system. While typical piece dyeing only colors the outside, e.dye color permeates all the way through synthetic yarns. The firm uses the same process as dope dyeing, creating pigment recipes to make masterbatch (mathematically-derived pigment and dyestuff formulas) and extrude yarns in color (color goes directly inside yarn filaments, before the polymers are extruded). Unlike typical solution dye companies, e.dye offers nearly 10,000 colors, plus the ability to make custom hues. E.dye improves color consistency and repeatability. The existing dye process in use for 75+ years was designed for cotton and wool, not synthetic fibers.

We asked Michael Murphy, senior advisor for e.dye, why it’s important to think about sustainable components and fabrics in the beginning of the design process: “Sorting post-consumer garments into fabric types is the MOST expensive part of the process at this point. If we know what the product inputs are, less sorting is necessary.  One current uniform project we are doing uses e.dye fabrics, sewing thread, trims and zippers - all made with our rPET masterbatch color that are identified as e.dye rPET - so when the garments are eventually returned, little or no sorting is required,” he said.

LOOPTWORKS

The Loopt System is recycling that allows for the processing of multiple types of pre and post-consumer garments back into pure recycled fiber, including products with blended fiber materials. “The benefit of the Loopt System is that it allows for broad textile recycling of both natural and synthetic materials, including acrylic and wool, to create recycled fibers for spinning,” said Alyssa Augustine, head of design innovation for Looptworks. The firm, founded in 2009, is slated to open a new textile circularity facility in Gresham, OR producing circular fibers in August 2024.

For firms just embarking on the circular journey, Looptworks founder Scott Hamlin advises “the number one way to prepare is to add a line-item expense into cost of goods sold for end of life. By adding it in on your own, you have control over how and when to implement the additional cost.” Secondly, Hamlin urges brands to dig into what’s actually happening at end-of-life with cut waste, cancelled fabrics, obsolete inventory and takeback programs. “It is really important to get a clear picture of where your pain points are before trying to solve them,” Looptworks has a cost neutral program for solving for excess textiles to help bridge the gap on circular initiatives, when there is no established budget for end of life.

PATAGONIA

This Spring, Patagonia announced a circular solution for wetsuits. Yulex (natural rubber) wetsuits from any brand can now be broken down at the molecular level by Bolder Industries and used as carbon black in the dyeing process of future Patagonia wetsuits. Bolder Industries provides circular solutions for rubber, plastic, and petrochemical supply chains by converting end-of-life tires into sustainable carbon black.

Patagonia first partnered with Yulex in 2008 to develop a bio-based rubber, which comes from the Hevea tree, instead of crude oil or limestone. In 2020, Patagonia built Wetsuit Forge, an on-site wetsuit research, development and repair center. At the facility, zippers are removed from suits that are shipped to Bolder Industries, where carbon black is extracted from the wetsuits and other rubber scraps (car tires). The reclaimed material then goes to Patagonia’s manufacturer, Sheico, where the new wetsuits are manufactured. BolderBlack Patagonia wetsuits are set to go on sale in 2025.

“We hope that this breakthrough in recycling and circularity will go well beyond the surf industry and be implemented across countless product sectors,” said Hub Hubbard, surf product line manager for Patagonia. While brands have offered wetsuit collections for recycling, they are only broken down mechanically into yoga mats and playground material.

Mackenzie Warner, Patagonia Material Developer, noted that “carbon black from Yulex wetsuits can become a component in black fabrics and trims to make packs and jackets. We are excited to find new ways to use this innovative new material and share it with industry.”