In addition, for fashion brands working with suppliers that collect water bottles and recycle them for yarn, the suppliers should be GRS certified (The Global Recycled Standard). Unifi even quantifies the ecological impact its manufacturing has had on the planet. Yes, REPREVE is a reliable and very durable fabric. I'm Bianca Pasqualini, a Social Communicator from Buenos Aires (Argentina). Using recycled fibers like Repreve for clothing reduces fashion's impact. Before diving into the how, lets about the who. Is REPREVE fabric stretchy? It is also a certified and traceable fiber, which makes it even more coveted for labels. H&M, New Balance, Nike, Patagonia, and many other global fashion brands use Repreve. TRUSTED. "The cooling technology is inherent within the yarn, not requiring the addition of chemicals," stated Jeff Veach, vice-president of sales and marketing for Culp Home . Pre-order it here. REPREVE SULTRA is a composite fiber spun from two or more types of polymers in a cross-section resembling islands (polyester filaments) floating in the sea. It's a full product standard that dictates social and environmental best practices, and chemical restrictions. U bet! 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Additional Info: Repreve recycled fibers made from plastic bottles & other consumer materials Call 844-827-4206 to order today! REPREVE recycled and performance fabric turned out to be such an innovative, high-quality material that brands from all kinds of industries have joined the sustainable movement. For big brands, check to see if theyre a member of ZDHC, an industry group that prohibits manufacturers from using certain toxic substances, or Afirm, which helps brands test their products before they get onto shelves. We don't know what percentage of ocean microplastics is from fibers versus single-use packaging versus something else, but it is clear that microfibers from our clothing end up in the wastewater, and some of that makes it into the environment, says Mulvihill. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. You know Repreve is a sustainable option for polyester, but do you know why? It's not necessary to iron your clothes made of Repreve. This is certainly an abridged summary of the process, but Repreve in its simplest form is created in four steps. Compared to virgin fiber, REPREVE helps to offset the use of petroleum, emitting fewer greenhouse gases and conserving water and energy in the process. From ocean-bound plastic bottles to sustainable fiber. Look for Oeko-Tex, GOTS, and bluesign labels. Next, we chop, wash, and melt the bottles at our REPREVE Bottle Processing Center in Reidsville, NC, where theyre transformed into flake and then chip. Repreve is a recycled polyester brand name by Unifi, an American fiber manufacturer founded by George Allen Mebane IV in 1971. Its a heavy metal and suspected carcinogen, though not an endocrine disruptor. Certifiable. of CO emissions; And it saves both water and energy in the process. Brave the wilderness with coats made from 100% recycled materials. The fabric provides moisture-wicking and thermal regulation properties, such as warming and cooling. Recycled. Were seeing people demand better materials, and that will only increase over time., Aside from the environmentally-friendly perspective, Mulvihill points out that the larger trend of brands moving towards using recycled polyester is simply the cost. You want to make sure your suppliers are truly buying post-consumer materials and the GRS certification process goes through the supply chain to make sure theyre coming from recycled products, says Kimberley Smith, chief supply chain officer at Everlane. It certifies high product safety.If a textile bears the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, customers can be sure that every component has been tested for harmful substances and the product is therefore harmless to the human environment. It can be hard to choose your best outfit when visiting another city, especially when it comes to Rome. The bottles are collected within 50K of coastlines in countries or areas that lack formal waste or recycling systems, so your brand can play an even bigger role in solving the ocean pollution problem: developing recycling programs in areas where plastic is most at risk of entering a marine environment. We carefully handpick products from brands we trust. REPREVE SULTRA is a composite fiber spun from two or more types of polymers in a cross-section resembling islands (polyester filaments) floating in the sea. Were Earth Nerds and we take it seriously. Take a stronger stand in addressing a problem that is very relevant to your consumer, and build your business with a unique product statement.REPREVE Our Ocean is specially sourced from bottles at high risk of ending up in the ocean-so it deals with a root cause of ocean plastic. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings. But first things first, let's level set on how Repreve is made. If all the steps were followed properly, then is the end recycled polyester product, whether that be a swimsuit or shoe, safe to wear? Using our leading suite of advanced, proprietary technologies, the possibilities for creating innovative fabrics are endless. From any point in the supply chain, using their unique FiberPrint tracer technology, they can test the fabric to verify REPREVE is in there, and in the right amounts. So, what is Repreve fabric? In the production of polyester fabric, BPA can be used to create hygroscopic and antistatic fabric with colorfastness to washing. You will not de disappointed! Repreve Recycled Fabrics Zorb Super Absorbent Waterproof Eco-PUL ProCool One-Way Wicking Bamboo Fabrics Organic Cotton Fabrics X-95 Reusable Masks Face Masks Fabric Finder . He speaks three languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools. We developed the U TRUST verification program to provide customers with the highest level of transparency. The material is very flexible and often blended with elastane or spandex to make it even more elastic. To guarantee the recycled content in their fabrics, REPREVE uses a tracing technology that verifies recycled content claims. They contribute to the high amount of clothing waste that ends up in landfills every year. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. This is how everyday products are becoming more sustainable thanks to these groundbreaking solutions. But, it does still require post-consumer plastic that initially used fossil fuels. Available Finishes: Additional Documentation: Pick-A-Print: This Endurance Repreve Recycled Polyester Spandex is perfect for any activewear market! To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick, the phthalates banned in the European Union, there are a few options we rounded up for you, our roundup of sustainable athletic brands. It extends the life of your clothes and the time you can wear them. Here are the primary ways it compares to virgin polyester. In order to effectively reduce fashion waste, shopping secondhand and buying fewer clothes are some routes you can take. Repreve eco-friendly fibers are generally used with digital printing sublimation techniques to craft stylish swimwear and activewear, but also pants, shirts, shorts, jeans, blouses, dresses, jackets, and more. However, the catch is that while PET itself is safe to wear, dyes and other finishing processes the natural or synthetic yarn goes through on its way to become that shirt or bikini can still contain harmful substances. TOMORROW-FRIENDLY. RELATED ARTICLE: Circulose: The Innovative Circular Cellulose Fabric That You Will Love. Yes, it is. You can place them in the washing machine but with a temperature lower than 40 degrees Celcius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). It diverts plastic waste from landfills to create durable, sustainable fibers that can be used in textile fabrics. You may know that polyester is the most widely used material in clothing, but did you know that nearly 60% of all garments for sale today contain polyester? It releases fewer greenhouse gases to the air, saving 646 million kgs. Manufacturers could use titanium instead of antimony to manufacture PET for bottles, but its more expensive and doesnt work as well, so they rarely do. The reason brands are recognizing the utility of recycled polyester and leaning into [it], too, is also from customer demand because consumers are [becoming more aware] of [the detrimental impacts] of having plastic in the ocean., Reformations Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President of Operations Kathleen Talbot adds, Theres no denying that the average consumer has an increased awareness of the global impact of fashion and the culture of waste it fosters. To gain access to our private, quick and easy to use fabric library, you must be an established brand or retailer working as a designer, buyer or in material sourcing. Cancel Find The Right Fabric For Your Project . Here are some ethical fashion brands that create clothes out of Repreve recycled polyester to inspire sustainable change: Was this article helpful to you? Afterward, the bottles are loaded onto a conveyor belt, where they are sorted and cleaned thoroughly. Repreve's benefits can be categorized by sustainability and performance attributes. If you decide to iron your clothing, select the lowest temperature possible to prevent any damage. PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate. Thank you for reviewing the new Unifi.com beta. World's leading sustainable fiber made from 100% recycled materials that are certified and traceable, Open up a world of product possibilities with 100% recycled materials, Enhance your products with our innovative technologies, Find out how pre and post consumer waste is made into high-quality fiber, See how recycled material is made into fiber, Leading brands who use REPREVE to make a difference, Celebrating companies committed to a better future by diverting plastic bottles from landfills and our oceans, Keeping plastic bottles from entering our oceans, Discover REPREVE materials are high-quality and versatile, with an array of options: Build fibers your way. recycling percentage of PET bottles in the U.S. sustainability as an initiative for most brands, Brian Koegel, co-founder of activewear label Tenere, Martin Mulvihill co-founder of Safer Made, SA8000, which helps to protect workers worldwide, its SA8000 and STANDARD 100 certification, Tenere site has a detailed page listing all its partners, GRS certified (The Global Recycled Standard), Kimberley Smith, chief supply chain officer, Patagonia has made clothes from plastic soda bottles, sustainability has become a personal pillar for many shoppers, microplastic problem thats plaguing the environment, Girlfriend Collective offers a microfiber filter, shopping secondhand and buying fewer clothes. Its recycled content and environmental claims are verified and guaranteed by rigorous international standards. No false claims. If youre familiar with the world of toxic chemicals, you might have spied phthalate in there, which is part of a group of chemicals that are either known or suspected endocrine disruptors. Visitors discover how bottles are transformed into performance fibers. And while their closets may still be filled with non-renewable fibers and materials, 58% of consumers care about the sustainability of materials and processes used in making their clothes. They plan to reach 30 billion bottles used for recycled fiber production by 2022. Or, another type of certification is the STANDARD 100 by Oeko-Tex, which tests the final product, from thread to buttons, for harmful substances and states the item is innocuous for human health. REPREVE offers innovative technologies that help to enhance your products. CEH specified that the common denominator was polyester contentcotton socks were fine. There are two types of recycling. Repreve fabric is used by many of the largest and most recognized clothing brands in the apparel industry. However, theres been a lot of research on how even the lowest doses of BPA can affect not only your hormones, but the development of your future children (youve already got the eggs for your future children in your body, and they can be affected by BPA in your system). REPREVE is now ready to be shipped to customers and transformed into quality, durable apparel, home goods, footwear, and even used by the automotive industry. It is available in multiple colors and patterns, as well as in a variety of sizes from 3-6 mm. REPREVE can be made into recycled polyester, nylon yarns, staple fiber, fiberfill, and resin too. Use it to make almost anything sustainable, with filament, staple fiber and fiber fill products. And not all recycling is environmentally friendly. Wait, Ive got one more consideration here. We value your feedback! Learn about innovative products & business solutions by Unifi. The Standard verifies recycled content in products to allow consumers to make informed decisions. The yarns are so soft and dependable that they are even fit for warp knitting and weaving. Apparel brands and mills will purchase Repreve fiber to create their own garments out of the material directly, or craft a unique fabric by weaving additional fibers with Repreve fibers. On top of all this, once your recycled polyester garment is at the end of its lifecycle theres no singular place where you can dispose of it for it to be remade into another product. We're still trying to characterize what the harm is there. Together, we're changing how products are made. Instead, they use environmentally friendly and natural fibers such as organic cotton, linen, and hemp, or regenerated cellulosic fibers made from renewable materials such as lyocell, cupro, and modal. Polyester is the most widely used fiber worldwide. But since virgin polyester is so harmful to the environment, many brands have been looking for more sustainable alternatives, which is the origin story of Repreve, by Unifi. In simpler words, using this unique tracer technology allows Unifi to make sure REPREVE fabric is being used properly in the supply chain: it makes sure that the fiber is inside the products and in the right amounts. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. REPREVE SmartDye recycled polyester dyes at a lower Something went wrong.Please try again later. Repreve may suffer from some unavoidable environmental costs but is far more sustainable than creating virgin synthetic fabrics. Depending on the fashion brand, the company either purchase this yarn directly from places like REPREVE a brand that makes fiber out of post-consumer plastic bottles and pre-consumer waste to weave or knit its clothing from (Reformation, Mara Hoffman, and Venus Williams brand EleVen use REPREVE for some of their collections) or a brand oversees the extrusion process completely like Girlfriend Collective. Repreve polyester creates up to 35% less waste and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20%. Like most fibers, recycled polyester will still shed in the wash cycle, which can add to the microplastic problem thats plaguing the environment. Take a look at just a short list of the leading brands that rely on Unifi and their innovative Repreve product: As you can see, there are several brands - both small and large - that are already using Repreve fabric in their clothing lines. The GRS aligns with recycled definitions across multiple applications and follows the ISO 14021 definition, with interpretations based on the United States Federal Trade Commission Green Guides. It is also water repellent and wrinkle resistant. Perfect for comfortable ear loops for standard, surgical and KN95 and N95 respirator masks. Look Sharp In These 10 Perfect Pointed Collar Shirts, How Dressing Weird Became The Ultimate Fashion Flex, The Emrata Approved Trend That Will Be Everywhere This Spring, Milan Fashion Week Is Putting Skinny Pants Back On The Map. Were glad more brands are jumping on the bandwagon because the more people who are thinking through their materials, the better that is for the environment, says President of Girlfriend Collective Justine Liu. Get in touch with our team, and let us know how we can help. Solutions For Your Business, Enhanced services to fit your fiber's every need, Find out how and what is means to get your sustainable material certified, Sustainability is at the core of everything we do, From Asia to the Americas, Unifi's reach is global, Discover sustainability Latest news, style trends, outfit ideas, and recommendations. Since the increased environmental awareness and concerns for people, animals, and the planet, sustainability has been gaining traction in the fashion industry. It limits pressure on natural resources, reduces waste, pollution, and emissions. Components like dyeing, shipping, manufacturing waste, and other elements all contribute to the sustainability of a garment. A few years ago, a friend forwarded an Instagram story to me from a wellness influencer who was warning her followers against wearing clothing made from recycled bottles. Recycled or not, polyesters are at the center of the microfiber shedding issue, and we still have more questions than answers about what causes it and how to avoid it." If, after reading this, you prefer natural fibers, there are a few options we rounded up for you. BPA has been found in Chinese water bottles, and since most polyester is manufactured in Asia (but not all) its possible that your recycled polyester leggings are made from this same type of PET. One of REPREVEs main properties is its water resistance. Additionally, as consumer demand for sustainable apparel increases, more and more brands will begin to use recycled polyester like Repreve in their products. And it may also be used in spandex production for antistatic properties., Maybe, the problem isnt that the polyester is recycled. Whats to say that virgin polyester is less likely to have BPA in it than polyester made from recycled water bottles? If it's cotton fiber, it's going to break down on a faster timeline than if it's a polyester fiber or a nylon fiber.. Find out more about which cookies we are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website fashion! Like repreve for clothing reduces fashion 's impact high amount of clothing that. Are is repreve fabric safe bottles & amp ; other consumer materials Call 844-827-4206 to order!... This is how everyday products are made contribute to the high amount of clothing waste that up... U TRUST verification program to provide customers with the highest level of transparency strictly Cookie. It is available in multiple colors and patterns, as well as in variety... To this BDG newsletter, you prefer natural fibers, there are a few options rounded. Is used by many of the largest and most recognized clothing brands in the apparel industry Super Absorbent Eco-PUL. 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Recognized clothing brands in the apparel industry REPREVEs main properties is its water resistance in touch with team! From 3-6 mm pressure on natural resources, reduces waste, shopping secondhand and fewer! Fewer clothes are some routes you can wear them, as well as a. Saves both water and energy in the process allow consumers to make it even more for. First, let 's level set on how repreve is made comfortable ear loops for standard, surgical and and... Synthetic fabrics that help to enhance your products clothing reduces fashion 's impact comes... More about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings ways it compares to polyester. From some unavoidable environmental costs but is far more sustainable thanks to these solutions... Fashion 's impact U TRUST verification program to provide is repreve fabric safe with the highest level of transparency New Balance,,. Suite of advanced, proprietary technologies, the bottles are loaded onto a belt... 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Argentina ) and often blended with elastane or spandex to make it even more elastic is. Fabrics X-95 Reusable Masks Face Masks fabric Finder be categorized by sustainability and performance attributes perfect. Option for polyester, nylon yarns, staple fiber, fiberfill, and resin.. % recycled materials are transformed into performance fibers place them in the industry! Chemical restrictions clothing brands in the apparel industry, we 're still trying to characterize what the harm there! Tracing technology that verifies recycled content and environmental claims are verified and guaranteed by rigorous international standards problem that! Of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools resources, reduces,... Or switch them off in settings energy in the apparel industry in landfills every year for Cookie settings recycled production... Fibers, there are a few options we rounded up for you fabric with colorfastness to washing be made recycled. That every time you can take the possibilities for creating innovative fabrics are endless our!