Sportstextiles-Issue-Two

30th YEAR

Recycling’s unsung hero

Questions about mass balance

Puma hears young voices

Cirql brings midsoles full circle

Editor

Stephen Tierney

Deputy editor

Clare Grainger

Consultant technical editor

Sophie Bramel

Consultant editor

David Buirski

Publisher

Simon Yarwood

Design

Tim Button

Subscriptions manager

John Collins

Administration

Lisa Fabian­Smith

Editorial enquiries

stephen@worldtrades.co.uk

08 Middle way

Thermomechanical recycling requires less energy than chemical recycling and works better with synthetic fibres than mechanical processes. It could be the unsung hero of a circular solution for textiles.

14 On balance

The principles of mass balance are increasingly coming into use in companies’ sustainability claims. This in­depth analysis of how this works in the textile value chain throws up important questions.

20 Rise to the Challenge: Growing consensus

A new initiative envisages increases in cotton production capacity in Africa, and game­changing job and economic opportunities from adding value on home soil to the fibres.

Bavaria­based outdoor footwear brand Lowa, and shoes from the All Terrain Running (ATR) collection it has launched for spring 2025.

22 Newcomers: Hold fast

A method that uses the midsole to bond sole and upper together won recognition for footwear brand Keen in Time’s ‘Best Inventions’ list at the end of 2024.

Analysis that New Balance has carried out of its own supply chain has led it to add important details to its definition of ‘preferred materials’.

Frank

How the hard work on developing a biodegradable version of Cirql’s midsole material has paid off at last.

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Global news

France Swimwear and athleisure show Mare di Moda has announced the dates of its 2025 edition which are moved forward to October 22 to 24, a few weeks earlier than its usual timing. These new dates were chosen, the organisers said, in conjunction with the organisers of Performance Days. “Despite the distinct identities of the two events in terms of offerings and structure, it is clear that they share some exhibitors and visitors. This adjustment will allow stakeholders to better organise their participation in both events,” the organisers stated.

UK Never one to shy away from a material challenge, Vollebak has unveiled its latest product: a jacket made from wood.

Co­founding brothers Nick and Steve Tidball were inspired by a car from their childhood, which had bodywork made out of wood, complete with mushrooms growing out of the side. Steve said: “Our Wooden Jacket is all about the technical feat versus the performance advantage of the material.” With a prototype made, the limited­edition product is “being grown”, priced at £2,495.

Global Following its analysis of new market data in January, cotton industry information resource Cotlook has increased its global production estimate for 2024­2025. It said it now expects farmers worldwide to produce 26.3 million tonnes of cotton in the 2024­2025 season, an increase of 333,000 tonnes compared to earlier forecasts. Its forecast for consumption is unchanged. It still expects manufacturers to use 24.4 million tonnes of cotton over this period. This would give an excess of almost 1.9 million tonnes.

Sweden Clothing group H&M has reported full­year revenues for 2024 equivalent to just under €20.5 billion. The group’s most recent business year ended on November 30, 2024. This figure represents a fall of 1% year on year, but H&M pointed to an increase in its operating profit, which increased by 19% to reach the equivalent of €1.5 billion. At the end of the business year, the group had 4,253 stores worldwide, across all of its brands. This was 116 fewer than at the end of November 2023.

Germany The performance materials division of BASF has completed a project to install renewable energy at all of its European sites. By January 1 this year, all of the group’s performance materials sites in Europe had switched to renewable electricity. Nine sites in total have been involved in this switch, factories in which BASF makes engineering plastics, polyurethanes, thermoplastic polyurethanes and specialty polymers. BASF said it will convert all of its operations globally to renewable electricity in the next few years.

Italy The fortieth edition of Milano Unica closed on February 6 with a record number of exhibitors ­ 723 companies taking part. Organisers estimated visitors from around 6,500 companies had attended, an increase of 10% compared to the winter edition in 2024. Breaking this down, they said 2,500 international companies had sent buyers, up by more than 30%. The other 4,000 were Italian companies.

l Developer of synthetic thermal insulation materials Thermore is taking part in the EA7 Emporio Armani Winter Tour. This tour involves setting up a temporary exhibition area in various ski resorts to showcase winter sports garments and textiles from EA7 Emporio Armani and its partners. The roadshow celebrates passion for the mountains through what the organisers call a series of “immersive and engaging experiences”. Thermore is showing its Ecodown Fibers Genius collection, putting the emphasis on the materials’ high level of comfort and performance in extreme conditions, their durability and their use of recycled content.

Myanmar Trade union organisation

IndustriAll has called on garment brands to stop sourcing clothes made in Myanmar. It said union representatives inside the country had raised a series of concerns about the treatment of garment workers there. These include workers being asked to work overtime, including working all through the night, for no extra pay or benefits. It alleged that excessive production targets are common, as are wage arrears and under­age workers.

US The American Apparel & Footwear Association has said tariffs that the US has announced on imports from Mexico, Canada and China “will inject massive costs” into the shoe and clothing sectors. It said the US economy was already “inflation­weary” and added that the imposition of tariffs on imports into the US would expose the economy further through “a damaging tit­for­tat tariff war” with key export markets. “We should be forging deeper collaboration with our free­trade­agreement partners, not taking actions that call into question the very foundation of that partnership,” said AAFA chief executive, Steve Lamar.

l At the eleventh hour on February 3, the US delayed by 30 days the imposition of tariffs of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada. But, as previously announced, it went ahead with the start of new tariffs of 10% on all imports from China on February 4. These new tariffs are in addition to existing tariffs on goods imported to the US from China. Minutes after the new tariffs began to apply, China announced a series of retaliatory measures.

l VF Corporation has reported revenues of almost $7.4 billion for the first nine months of its current business year, the period ending December 28. This represents a decline of 4% compared to the same period a year earlier. Revenues at The North Face were more than $2.8 billion, flat compared to the same months in the previous year. At Timberland, revenues went up, increasing by 1% to reach almost $1.25 billion for the period. But the figures for Vans continue to disappoint, with revenues of just over $1.8 billion. This is a fall of 14% year on year.

Vietnam Bao Lan has introduced Ananas, made from pineapple farming waste, in a project that took four years to bring to market, founder David Quach told Sportstextiles. The fibrous cellulose strands are subjected to heat and made into fibres suitable for spinning. The Ananas fibres are blended with cotton in proportions from 10% to 30%. The company is working on a 50% blend. The resulting fibres have natural antibacterial and odour control properties (tested in Japan), and offer moisture absorption and UV protection.

Australia A study by researchers at the University of Sydney has found that adults wearing wool sleepwear fall asleep faster. The team assessed the impact on sleep quality of sleepwear made from cotton, polyester and merino wool. It found people wearing merino fell asleep in 12 minutes, while the average times for the others were 22 minutes for people wearing polyester and 27 minutes for those wearing cotton. Associate Professor Chin Moi Chow said: “Wool helps regulate your body temperature, keeping you in what is known as ‘the thermal comfort zone’ for longer. You therefore not only fall asleep quicker, but also have deeper, less fragmented sleep.”

Japan Japanese industrial group Teijin has announced an increase in revenues of 6.7% for the first nine months of its current financial year, the period ending December 31, 2024. Over this period, group revenues were more than $4.9 billion. Its fibres division, which includes the production and sale of polyester fibres, had revenues of $1.75 billion, up by 11% year on year.

l Athletic brand ASICS has launched a limited­edition collection of running apparel that takes its inspiration from the often off­beat make­up associated with Japan’s Kabuki theatre tradition. The company said its aim was to blend “the rich tradition of Japanese artistic expression with advanced athletic apparel technology”. Just as Kabuki make­up captures deep emotional expression, the new running apparel line features what it has called “bold and artistic designs across all items”. Each item features proprietary technology called Actibreeze for comfort and breathability.

China A sustainability concept that events organiser Messe Frankfurt introduced at the autumn 2024 edition of Intertextile Shanghai will also be part of the spring 2025 edition, which takes place from March 11­13. The new concept, Econogy, takes its name from a combination of ecology and economy. There will be more than 3,000 exhibitors at the March event. Those that have passed an independent check to confirm their claims will be part of the Econogy Hub.

l Industrial group Toray is to establish a new production facility in southern China for high­performance resin compounds. It will set this up at its existing site in Foshan in Guangdong province, with operations planned to begin in April this year. Toray said it would transfer some of the production at another site in Guangdong, in Shenzhen, to the new set­up.

People

Berghaus Adapt to offer bespoke adaptions to gear

British outdoor brand Berghaus is launching an initiative to adapt kit and make the outdoors accessible to more people who are living with physical disabilities.

Through Berghaus Adapts, members of the public will be able to request bespoke changes to clothing and equipment that will help them get into nature. The brand’s product team in North East England will work with a cohort of applicants and develop kit that allows them to get active in the outdoors in a way that they have so far been prevented from doing.

For the last five years, Berghaus has used its resources to adapt kit for adventurers who have specific accessibility needs. The brand has worked closely with Ed Jackson, a recovering quadriplegic committed to overcoming adversity surrounding disability, and Mick Fowler, a respected mountaineer who now climbs with a colostomy bag after treatment for cancer. Through Ed, Berghaus has also developed a connection with beneficiaries of the charity Millimetres 2 Mountains (M2M), which helps those who have suffered physical or mental trauma to reconnect with the outdoors.

To lead on this work, the company created Berghaus Adapts. Together, the in-house product team and designer and campaigner Alice Sainsbury, have created bespoke kit that has enabled Ed, Mick and others to embark on major expeditions and achieve world firsts. In 2023, Ed Jackson teamed up with two other men with spinal cord injuries - Darren Edwards and Dr Niall McCann – to complete an unsupported 138km traverse of Iceland’s Vatnajökull ice cap, becoming the first all-disabled team to make the crossing. In September 2024, Mick Fowler and Victor Saunders made the first ever ascent of Yawash Sar, a remote 6,000m Himalayan mountain.

The company has also helped several beneficiaries of M2M to get outdoors as adaptive adventurers. These include Charlotte Florene, Tom Carus and Caroline Pakenaite, each of whom has different and distinct kit requirements due to their disabilities.

Berghaus Adapts is inviting members of the public to take part in the programme. Aspiring adventurers with bespoke product needs are being invited to request support that will help them take on the challenges that prevent them spending time being active outdoors. Berghaus has increased the project’s dedicated resource, based at its facilities in Sunderland.

The company has added to a team that includes product designers and technologists. Working out of the Berghaus sample room, they will consult Ed Jackson as they work on kit, initially with the aim of meeting a variety of needs for a small group of applicants.

Wolverine creates chief strategy role

Footwear group Wolverine Worldwide has created the role of chief strategy officer and has appointed Brett Parent, who has worked at the group for almost 20 years, to the role. After a series of marketing roles, he moved into strategy roles at the group in 2015. This led, in 2023, to his taking up the role of vice­president of strategy. Now, as Wolverine’s first chief strategy officer, he will have responsibility for developing and driving group strategy, assessing growth opportunities and leading a strategy team. He will also lead its consumer marketing team.

Mizuno man promotes football

Japan­based sports company Mizuno has added Portuguese footballer João Félix to its list of brand ambassadors. Mizuno said that this partnership would play “a strategic role in building the future of Mizuno football”. It said the player would contribute to the development of performance football boots at the company. It will also use his feedback for future product development.

FibreTrace appoints Carey

Textile traceability technology provider

FibreTrace has announced Tricia Carey as its new strategic advisor. It paid tribute to her “transformative work” at Lenzing Fibres. She was director of global business development for denim and for business in the Americas for Lenzing until 2022. She then went to textile­to­textile recycler Renewcell to be its chief commercial officer. She is a founding member of sustainability platform Transformers Foundation and has held board positions at Textile Exchange.

Luxury merchandiser flies west Outdoor brand Canada Goose has hired Judit Bankus from Stella McCartney as vice­president of merchandising. She will oversee the development of global merchandising and pricing strategies and will collaborate closely with creative director Haider Ackermann, to bring his creative vision to life. Before McCartney, she spent eight years at Burberry as global merchandising director under the leadership of Christopher Bailey and Riccardo Tisci She also played a pivotal role in the founding of the Karl Lagerfeld brand.

Berghaus Adapts kit helped Mick Fowler reach the summit of Yawash Sar.

CREDIT: COLDHOUSE / MATT PYCROFT

Perfect Moment readies for expansion

Luxury skiwear brand Perfect Moment has announced changes in its leadership team. Two new executives hail from Canada Goose. Vittorio Giacomelli, formerly in charge of product and sourcing, is moving to the London-based brand to oversee product strategy, product development and innovation. Chath Weerasinghe, who led the Canadian brand’s international expansion, has been appointed Perfect Moment’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

In addition to her position as chief creative officer, co-founder Jane Gottschalk is the brand’s new president.

Earlier this year, Perfect Moment, which was originally founded in Chamonix in the 1980s, had announced working with new sales agencies to continue to build up its presence. The Bernd Schürmann agency covers the DACH region, encompassing Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Antwerp-based fashion agency New Look is in charge of the Benelux area (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg). Southern Europe, which includes Italy, France, and Spain, has been awarded to TBrand, also known as the Riccardo Grassi Showroom.

Maison DixSept will be in charge of the Japanese market; it is headed by a former general manager of Alexander McQueen Japan.

This winter, Perfect Moment also opened its first retail location in upscale ski resort Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Performance Days’ new head of materials is ‘significant asset’

The organisers of German fabric trade show Performance Days have appointed Regina Goller as head of material strategy and trends. Ms Goller brings over 30 years of experience in the textile industry, holding positions at adidas, Puma, Odlo, Intersport and most recently Jack Wolfskin, where she worked as head of materials. In addition, she has collaborated with institutes and universities to develop solutions for the industry.

Marco Weichert, CEO of Performance Days, said: “With her impressive experience and commitment to innovation, she will play a key role in further developing our portfolio. Her deep understanding of performance materials and her extensive network are a significant asset for us.”

Goller will begin her new position just in time for the upcoming spring edition, which will take place on March 5-6, in Munich.

Performance Days is also organising a one-day workshop on March 4, aimed at helping sourcing professionals understand incoming regulations. DAY 0 will focus on “better practice”, which has “largely evolved without structured formal training”. The workshop will be led by Mark Shayler, who delivered the sustainability keynote address at the recent European Outdoor Summit.

Arc’teryx names new executive team for Veilance

High-tech outdoor brand Arc’teryx has named a new series of executives for its urban tech brand Veilance.

Ben Stubbington is taking over as head of creative direction and product innovation. A member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, he previously served as design head for Lululemon and was creative director for Theory’s men’s line.

Arc’teryx has recruited Marissa Pardini to join the Veilance team as general manager, where she will oversee the brand’s global strategy. She was formerly at Vans, where, as head of product and merchandising, she contributed to the VF-owned brand’s $1 billion direct-to-consumer sales, the company stated.

“The addition of Marissa and Ben to our Veilance team marks a pivotal moment in our journey as we double down on our commitment to innovation and excellence with this unique line in the Arc’teryx collection,” commented Stuart Haselden, CEO of Arc’teryx. “Their combined leadership and innovative thinking will be instrumental in elevating Veilance as a leader in the performance luxury space.”

The Canadian company has also named Matt Bolte chief merchandising officer. His career spans 17 years at Nike and as an associate at ThenWhat, a consultancy. At Arc’teryx, he will oversee merchandising, planning, programming and business development across all product categories.”

Griezmann signs Kipsta deal

French national team and Atlético Madrid attacker Antoine Griezmann has signed a new partnership deal with Decathlon brand Kipsta. The player has been wearing Kipsta boots since the end of 2024 and has already scored nine goals wearing the new footwear, three of them in Europe’s top club competition, the UEFA Champions League. Decathlon has now announced that, as well as wearing Kipsta boots in matches, Antoine Griezmann will play a role in helping to design new models.

Marketing hire at GTT

Developer of water­free and PFAS­free textile finishing technology GTT has appointed a new head of marketing, Courtney Harold. With more than 25 years’ experience in the textile, apparel and footwear industries, Ms Harold has also developed market­entry strategies for several fashion, outdoor, and apparel brands entering the Chinese market. She said she was thrilled to join GTT and was looking forward to helping lead the initiative to bring its Empel water­free and PFAS­free durable water repellency (DWR) technology to a wider market.

Tonello sales director dies

A popular figure in the textile industry, in Italy and worldwide, Maurizio Morosini, has died. He was 46 years old. Until the start of this year, he was sales director of Vicenza­based textile technology provider Tonello, a role he had held for seven years. Before this, he held business development roles at specialist textile chemicals groups Garmon and Bozzetto.

Nash introduces Q­Nova

British designer Saul Nash has chosen to use Fulgar’s recycled Q­Nova nylon in his s/s 2025 collection. He established his brand in 2018 with the goal of offering urban techwear made for movement and inspired by dance. Italian polyamide producer Fulgar regenerates production waste to make recycled Q­Nova yarns.

Explosion in Taiwan

Taiwanese materials maker Far Eastern New Century Corporation (FENC) has apologised over an explosion at its Hsinchu factory, which resulted in two deaths and the hospitalisation of 19 others in early February which was caused by a leak in the insulated pipeline of the polyester staple fibre production line. Nine remain in hospital.

Industry & Innovation

New UK hub to explore microfibre pollution

A newly established research hub in North East England will explore the extent and environmental impact of microfibre loss from textiles.

Located on Northumbria University’s campus in the centre of Newcastle, the Fibre-fragmentation and Environment Research Hub (FibER Hub) is the result of a collaboration between the University and The Microfibre Consortium (TMC) and will extensively test a wide variety of fabrics to determine the level of microfibre loss under different conditions and the associated environmental impacts.

It is hoped the research will inform the development of more sustainable textiles in the future, with targeted interventions throughout their lifespan to reduce shedding rates.

Work on this topic is being led by TMC, a science-led nonprofit organisation which is convening the global textiles sector through The Microfibre 2030 Commitment and Roadmap. TMC connects academic research with the reality of commercial supply chain production to facilitate science-led change within the industry. It works on behalf of its 95 signatories, which include global brands and retailers, suppliers and NGOs.

Established in 2023, the project is funded through UK Research and Innovation’s circular fashion and textile programme NetworkPlus, and includes academics from Northumbria University, King’s College London and Loughborough University, covering a variety of expertise, such as water, air and soil pollution, forensic science, design, and big data. Working alongside them are representatives from global fashion brands including Barbour, Montane and ASOS and campaign groups Fashion Revolution and WRAP.

Dr Kelly Sheridan is CEO of TMC and an associate professor in forensic science at Northumbria. Her research focuses on textile fibres and fibre fragmentation. She said: “The FibER Hub collaboration enables TMC to draw on the interdisciplinary skills and technical capabilities of Northumbria and the IMPACT+ team to expand our knowledge offering to our signatory community.”

French initiatives believe in biomass­based fibres

French textile research centre CETI is working on three new fibre projects that seek to make the most of agricultural waste.

OzoCell is investigating making a manmade cellulosic fibre from flax oilseed farming residues. A consortium of companies, including sports retailer Decathlon, is behind the nearly €6 million project. As its name implies, ozone is used to separate cellulose from other components. Applications in textiles and food packaging are expected.

KeWool seeks to make a keratin-based fibre from the wool of sheep grown for

PFAS removal attracts funding

Swiss start­up Oxyle has successfully closed a funding round that raised $16 million to scale its solution to remove PFAS from wastewater. This adds to a 2022 pre­seed round that brought in $3 million, and the total raised to $26 million. It has developed a technology that does not filter “forever chemicals”, but destroys the molecules, achieving over 99% elimination rates while consuming much less energy than alternative destruction methods, it said.

Solution for polycotton recycling

Dutch chemicals company Avantium has patented a method of recycling polycotton waste. Its Dawn biorefinery technology converts bioplastics into glucose and lignin, and was tested with polyester/cotton blend end­of­life textiles at the company’s pilot plant in Delfzijl. Cotton cellulose was successfully hydrolised into glucose. The solid polyester residue was then depolymerised by glycolysis.

Fulgar adds to bio range

Italian polyamide producer Fulgar has progressively expanded its range of low impact yarns, the latest being Q­Geo, which derives 46% of its make from industrial, non­edible corn. This new bio­polyamide is said to have greater moisture management properties than conventional nylon. It adds to Fulgar’s portfolio of innovative eco­responsible yarns: Q­Nova, a recycled nylon, Amni Soul Eco, which offers accelerated decomposition, Q­Cycle, which includes difficult to recycle plastics in its make, and a biobased castor bean oil derived yarn Evo.

Salomon shoe uses Carbios PET

Outdoor brand Salomon has launched a recyclable shoe made with polyester from Taiwanese performance materials maker Far Eastern New Century biorecycled from complex PET waste by French firm Carbios. The XT_PU.RE's upper has been re­engineered in two pieces, featuring the recycled PET fibres with a TPU sole. Using its solvent­free biorecycling technology, Carbios broke down the PET waste into its original monomers, PTA and MEG, which were then repolymerised by FENC into PET fibres and spun into filaments and dyed.

Dr Kelly Sheridan (left) and Dr Alana James, pictured in the FibRE Hub.

NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY

meat or cheese-making. The fibre would be extracted using a solvent and the fibre made via wet spinning. A first pilot plant is expected to be built in the Beauvais region (northwest of Paris). If successful, other units would be installed in sheep-growing regions.

A third agro-industry project on CETI’s to-do list is to build a milk fibre production supply chain in France. The protein fibre (as are silk and wool) is made from casein. Milk industry body, Centre National Interprofessionnel de l’Economie Laitière (CNIEL) is a key partner with the goal to create a new revenue stream for its members.

In other news, Frédéric Silvert, formerly head of innovation for CETI, has been named general manager, replacing Pascal Denizart, who had held the position since 2014.

Single­use plastics: outdoor industry call to arms

The European Outdoor Group (EOG) has announced details of the next phase of the Single Use Plastics Project (SUPP), publishing guidance for retailers on how to integrate poly bag removal into their operations.

This coincides with the launch of a new short film and website to showcase the key achievements and tangible outcomes from SUPP, highlight its focus and encourage more firms to get involved.

Launched in 2018 by the EOG, the Single Use Plastics Project was founded to directly address the sustainability challenges presented by poly bags in the supply chain. The partners involved started by researching the single use plastic footprint of their organisations and the wider industry, which established that the largest proportion of material was in the form of protective garment poly bags.

The SUPP has since created a single use plastics collection and recycling network for the UK outdoor industry and published a report about single use plastics in the value chain.

It will also support members with incoming regulation and grow the existing resource list.

Dr Verity Hardy, SUPP project lead, said: “The Single Use Plastics Project has made really good progress and that’s thanks to the really high level of active engagement by the partners involved. We’ve done a really thorough job of identifying the key aspects of a very specific issue, and then developing and testing viable solutions that will work at scale. I urge brands and retailers to get in touch and be part of SUPP.”

Equip Outdoor Technologies, parent company of technical outdoor brand Rab, was a founding partner of SUPP and features in the new film. Debbie Read, head of corporate communications and CSR at Equip, comments: “Taking part in the UK single use plastic recycling network allows us to treat this plastic as a valuable resource, and not waste. As an industry, we could make a huge difference if we all recycled our poly bags to turn them into high-grade pellets.”

Marta Pellegrino, The North Face’s senior sustainability specialist, said: “This project is a great example of how industry-wide problems do indeed demand an industry-wide response.”

Clinical trial shows benefits of Sleep Tight finish

Textile finishes developer Devan has launched new technology that it says will enhance sleep quality. It said independent clinical trials supported its claims for the technology, ‘Sleep Tight’.

An upcycled by-product of Australian tea tree oil is the active ingredient in the new textile finish. Applying this finish to sleep wear or to bed linen can benefit consumers in two ways, Devan stated: through inhalation and through absorbing the active ingredient through the skin.

A total of 33 people took part in a clinical trial of Sleep Tight, using treated pillow covers for 30 nights.

The data showed that after this period, the subjects experienced notable improvements. The most significant changes were in sleep quality, sleep latency (the time it takes a person to fall asleep), sleep disturbance, reduction of daytime dysfunction and quality of life.

Devan said partner companies in Portugal and Hungary were already preparing to bring to market products enhanced with Sleep Tight.

Reju inks feedstock deal

Reju, a start­up that has developed a textile­to­textile recycling solution for polyester, has partnered Dutch cooperative Cibutex to access feedstock from post­consumer textile waste. The cooperative's member companies will send waste to be processed at Reju's Regeneration Hub Zero in Frankfurt, Germany.

Fresh chemical recycling initiative

Two German companies, Oerlikon and Evonik, are joining forces to develop a new depolymerisation technique for PET waste. “Our new catalytic processes and chemical technologies will complement current mechanical recycling methods enabling high recycled PET content from heavily contaminated and mixed PET waste that would otherwise be incinerated or landfilled,” commented Max Preisenberger, head of catalysts for Evonik.

Push for greater traceability

The Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTD) is introducing an extra level of transparency for its Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) and Regenerative Cotton Standard (RCS). In addition to the existing mass balance and hard identity preserved tracing methods, AbTD is adding mandatory audits. Better Cotton has also reinforced the security of its certification platform by introducing physical traceability and will operate as a fully­fledged standard.

First European 100% Spiber yarn

Biomaterial developer Spiber has announced that one of its partners, Italian textile mill Botto Giuseppe, will showcase a polo shirt made 100% from a worsted yarn that the mill has developed using Spiber’s Brewed Protein fibre. It is the first European mill to develop and bring to market yarn made from 100% Brewed Protein fibre. Other yarns include blends of Brewed Protein, in proportions of between 20% and 50%, with cashmere.

Four outdoor brands sign up to work with

3M

Insulation technology developer 3M has teamed with four new brands to bring its Thinsulate material to more garments on ski slopes this winter. Korean brand Hazzys, French brand Lafuma and Chinese brand Pelliot are using the 3M material in padded jackets for lightweight, breathable insulation. Singapore­based brand Vector has put Thinsulate into ski gloves.

Melt and spin fibre ­ to ­ fibre recycling

Thermomechanical recycling is one of three main methods used to recycle textiles into textiles. It sits in an intermediate category between mechanical and chemical processes. The mechanical shredding and ‘refibrising’ of textiles, works well for wool and cotton, but not so much for synthetics; it leads to shorter fibre length. A 2024 report by EU­funded research project CISUTAC found that mechanically recycled synthetic fibres “tend to lose 75% of their value and can generally not be used to remanufacture new clothes, unless they are mixed with virgin fibres”.

Chemical recycling processes draw high levels of media attention and generous funding. But these so­called ‘advanced’ techniques have yet to scale in some cases, and to reach technical maturity in countless others. It could be another decade or so before these methods become mainstream. Furthermore, processes that depolymerise synthetics require a great amount of energy, both to break down the polymer chains and to build them back up.

PureLoop’s thermomechanical recycling machinery is said to be flexible and low-energy. Developed for pure synthetic fibres, the company has successfully tested blends of polyester with low amounts of elastane.

CREDIT: PURELOOP BY EREMA

Polyester and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are two different names for the same polymer. PET plastics have been recycled into ‘new’ plastics or fibres for decades now, using thermomechanical processes. This technique can also be used to recycle polyester textiles, and may offer a much­needed, short­term, circular solution for synthetics.

Thermomechanical recycling, the method commonly used for PET plastics, are fully operational, but need specific elements to handle textile waste. Scraps of fabric, for one thing, do not ‘flow’ like plastics, and for another, the heating phase of the process degrades the polymer to

some extent. However, it requires less energy than chemical recycling, and with the development of machines made for fibrous waste, it could be the unsung hero of a circular solution for synthetic textiles.

The switch from plastics to textiles

Thermomechanical recycling is also known as melt recycling or pelletising, as it generally produces polymer chips or granules. While beverage bottles are chopped into flakes, fabrics are cut into small pieces, which requires special feeders capable of handling the low bulk density of textiles. The difference between PET plastics and polyester fibres is that PET is “a high­quality polyester with a high molecular weight, almost 10 times that of a polyester fibre,” says Gloria Yao, project development director at the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA). “Thermomechanical recycling is an ecological and an economic process,” she says, “but it does not yield as high a quality as the rPET made from bottle flakes. Companies will need to blend bottle chips with polyester chips to achieve fibre requirements, and this is not considered a true closed loop.”

Once melted and filtered, plastic flakes are condensed to achieve a certain viscosity. This, says Josse Kunst, sales manager for Dutch company CuRe, is a critical point. “Textiles may, to use an analogy, have the viscosity of peanut butter, making it difficult to filter out contaminants. The fibres in a textile can have different melting points and various finishes. Even spin sizing can alter their viscosity once melted, rendering thermomechanical recycling of textiles limited to very pure textile sources only.” CuRe has developed a method that breaks down polyester into its oligomers, which he says are polymers with shorter molecular chains. “Instead of peanut butter, our technology results in a substance with the viscosity of olive oil, which is easier to filter and purify.” Chemical recycling down to monomers, he concedes, yields the purest form of recycled polymers, but it also has the highest carbon footprint. “CuRe seeks to strike a balance between the two,” he says.

Thermomechanical processes require ‘highquality’ feedstock, like mechanical and chemical ones, notes Ashley Holding, sustainability expert at Circuvate, a sustainability and circular economy consultancy. He says that the presence of elastane or even cotton in the feedstock can be a problem, as well as unmelted components. He believes this method is mostly used to recycle production waste, and notes that there is often little transparency in the source of feedstock.

Adapting machinery

Machinery makers, too, have been working on adapting PET recycling lines to textiles. A solution developed by German company Gneuss skips the granulation stage. Erema, another German engineering company, has also simplified the process by removing some operations. “With our PureLoop technology, a client can place the

textiles or garments directly on the conveyor, without cutting them into small pieces,” Merlijn van Essen, sales manager, tells Sportstextiles. Once melted, filtered and pelletised, the chips can be used to make filaments or plastics. Blended waste materials will not necessarily be suitable for reuse as fibres. “They will have different viscosities that would cause too many problems in filament production,” he says. For monofibre waste, such as pure polyester, “after filtration, the melt is fed in a liquid­state into a polycondensation (LSP) reactor. This reactor increases the intrinsic viscosity (IV) levels to 0.7 or 0.8 so that the pellets can be made into 100% recycled fibres of up to 2 dtex. The advantage of this process is that the polymer is brought back to an almost virgin state”.

The company is working on adapting the PureLoop system to certain types of fibre blends, such as polyester with low amounts of elastane, and has achieved positive results, according to van Essen “We are currently seeking to optimise filtration which might make it possible to process post­consumer materials.” Erema founded PureLoop in 2014, and has since sold just over 200 custom­made machines in several sectors, including textiles.

A specially designed PureLoop line has been in operation for a year now at Project Re:Claim, in the UK, a venture initiated by the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) and Project Plan B, a company founded by Tim Cross. A garment designer and manufacturer specialising in workwear and uniforms, Mr Cross is intent on phasing out virgin polyester and replacing bottle­flake polyester with textile rPET. In addition to the need for specially designed equipment, “we also learned the clothing needed to be designed so that it can be easily recycled,” he tells Sportstextiles.

The need for monomaterial design

For Mr Cross, monomaterial design is simple: “Take a polo shirt, choose polyester buttons instead of nylon ones and sew it with polyester

A PureLoop recycling line has now been in operation for a year at Project Re:Claim, in the UK, a project initiated by the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) and Project Plan B, a company founded by Tim Cross, pictured top.

CREDIT: PROJECT PLAN B

Below: Recycled polyester pellets produced by Project Re:Claim, using a PureLoop machine.

CREDIT: PURELOOP

threads. When a large supermarket makes this switch, we are talking of millions of garments. If it were applied worldwide, it would have an incredible impact.” To encourage the transition to monomaterial garment design, he founded the Circular Textile Foundation that assists brands in developing single­fibre products and delivers a special label and certification mark. “Every single recycler needs products that are designed to be recycled. Until now, there has been no traceability on a product before it reaches a recycling plant. We need to change that.”

Re:Claim’s facility in Kettering, on a Salvation Army garment collecting site, has a capacity to recycle 20 tonnes a day, and although the company operates at half of that, all of its pellet production is sold out, says Mr Cross. But its recycled textile granules are typically mixed with 25% to 50% plastic­flake pellets. “In time we’ll be able to produce high­quality yarns from 100% textile pellets,” he expects. The relatively low cost of thermomechanical recycling lines, he says, could make it an easily replicable solution worldwide. Mr Cross sees potential in installing units where cutting waste is produced, in Bangladesh or the Far East. “We could install smaller thermomechanical units where there is feedstock. The machines cost €2­€3 million and can be rapidly up and running and profitable. Unlike chemical recycling, we don’t need expensive chemists to run the machines.”

Earth Protex, a company based in Canada, with divisions in China, Portugal and the US, uses thermomechanical methods to make its Tex2Tex recycled polyester staple fibres and filaments. The company optimises polymer quality with its ThermoMechanical Reactor, which “removes contamination, and homogenises and the extends polymer chains,” says Samuel Goldstein, chief operating officer. Textile waste (mostly post­production) is sorted into light and dark shades. “For coloured fibres, we add dope­dye masterbatch (pigment) to homogenise colour and offer a low­impact fibre,” he says. “This solution

yields a more uniform colour than mechanically recycled fibres.”

Earth Protex maintains 60,000 tonnes per year of Tex2Tex rPET production capacity in China, and is preparing to install an additional 30,000 tonnes per year facility outside of China. The new facility will focus on post­consumer garment recycling and will pilot next generation Tex2Tex bolt­on technologies, including mixed polymer separation and dye removal and recovery.

Unifi, a major supplier of virgin and recycled PET plastic polyester, announced last summer that it was scaling up its capacity to recycle textile waste in its Repreve platform. Its Textile Takeback programme allows it to take in post­industrial and post­consumer textile waste that is sorted by light and dark colours. Unifi now offers white­dyeable or dope­dyed black recycled polyester fibres. The company says that at least half of the composition of the 100% recycled yarns comes from textile waste and is mixed with rPET from plastic.

Repreve Takeback yarns are the result of an “advanced thermomechanical process, augmented with a material­grading and purification system, in addition to strengthening, colour and traceability technologies,” says Meredith Boyd, product development manager for Unifi. “We are working with global brands to take back their waste and keep materials in circulation longer.”

“Thermomechanical recycling is efficient, scalable, and does not require breaking polymers down into molecular chains,” she says. “This makes it faster and less energy­intensive than other technologies. Before moving to chemical recycling, LCA data suggests first considering if a material can be thermomechanically recycled.”

Re&Up, a new venture created by Turkey­based conglomerate Sanko, has ambitious plans to scale up textile­to­textile recycling using mechanical, thermomechanical and hydrothermal technologies, all developed in­house. “What sets us apart is our ability to separate different fibre types from blends, including elastane, and remove dyes. Our

(Left:) Tex2Tex recycled polyester staple yarns, by Earth Protex, are produced in China in a 60,000 tonne-per-year facility.

CREDIT: EARTH PROTEX

(Right:) Unifi’s Textile Takeback yarns are made from polyester production waste and dope-dyed black in a new range of ThermaLoop insulation materials.

CREDIT: UNIFI

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decolourisation capability is a real game­changer,” says Andreas Dorner, who heads the new division, which is based in the Netherlands. “We use thermomechanical methods because they allow us to remove colours from fabrics and fibres, which is key to achieving high­quality recycled materials.”

For blended post­consumer garments, Re&Up sorts and separates the fibres, “turning them into spinnable recycled cotton and polyester chips specifically for textile­to­textile use.” Currently, Re&Up has a capacity to recycle some 80,000 tonnes annually, but its plan moving forward is to reach 1 million tonnes annually by 2030.

Newcomers to textile­to­textile recycling, such as Re:Claim and Re&Up seek to phase out PET plastics from the recycled polyester stream, but it is not clear what proportion of recycled plastics the rPET yarns sold on the market today contain.

Until volumes of sorted monomaterial feedstocks are available, this recycling method will probably mostly be used to process production waste. But, North America and Europe generate more end­of­life clothing than manufacturing waste. As Jeanne Meillier, a project manager at French eco­research hub Euromaterials, says: “Post­consumer waste is a European problem, we need solutions to recycle it locally. It is not worth exporting it to Asia.” She adds that “chemical recyclers need large volumes to make their systems viable, in the order of 20,000 tonnes.”

For Tim Cross at Project Re:Claim, thermomechanical recycling works, but would benefit from garment redesigns. “I address the issue from the point of view of a garment designer, and with the aim of setting up a system that works now, not in 15 years.”

“Thermomechanical methods are more energy efficient and should be the first step in a recycling process,” agrees Karla Magruder, founder of Accelerating Circularity. But, she says, these materials will eventually need to be chemically recycled, as “over time thermomechanical recycling degrades the polymers.”

Re&Up is developing a decolourising method in its plans to scale textile-to-textile recycling using several methods, mechanical, thermomechanical and hydrothermal.

CREDIT: RE&UP

Proponents of thermomechanical recycling point out that the technology is operational, the machinery compact and less costly than chemical depolymerising equipment. Units could be installed where waste is generated, creating recycled chips to produce new fibres or for use in injection moulding. This unsung hero of recycling is potentially a more versatile and agile solution.

EU-FUNDED THERMOMECHANICAL RECYCLING PROJECTS

Several transnational projects funded by the European Union are investigating the potential of thermomechanical recycling. Re­Aps, launched late last year, is one of the more recent four­year research and innovation programmes. It draws on an earlier Flanders­Walloon­France interregional programme called Retex. “At the time, we trialled thermomechanical recycling only at lab­scale, and it was just one of several pathways investigated. This new research project, which includes some of the same partners, such as Euramaterials, Belgian textile research centre Centexbel and the French CETI, will focus exclusively on this method,” Jeanne Meillier, project manager, tells Sportstextiles Re­Aps plans to propose operational guidelines for the industry in the next three years, and to make them available to European companies beyond its multiregional members.

Within Ecosystex, an EU­funded platform overseeing some 50 textile industry research projects, several programmes focus on building thermomechanical recycling hubs. Two years into its programme, tExtended is entering a second phase that will test a full­scale demonstrator. Led by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, its members include Portuguese research centre CITEVE, Utexbel and Purfi Belgium. CISUTAC is looking for solutions for polycotton blends, led by Centexbel with industry partners such as Decathlon, Erema, Lenzing, Sioen, Södra and TexAid. Another programme headed by Finnish research centre VTT, PESCO­UP, is focusing on polyester­cotton textile waste, with 19 different partners include CuRe and Reverse Resources. Textile­to­textile recycling is also the aim of T­Rex, another project whose 13 industry partners include CuRe, Fulgar, Indorama, Linz Textil, adidas, and Fashion for Good. These programmes’ broad goals span the entire value chain, from assessing feedstock availability and processing to testing and optimising recycling solutions.

Lost in the shuffle

Mass balance is presented as a pathway to more responsible products. A common practice in fair trade and petrochemical commodities, its workings are not complicated to understand, but its benefits are.

At consumer level, it offers no guarantees of the actual presence of recycled or fair trade farmed fibres in a product, and the concept will not be described on any eco­label. Proponents of this model often cite green energy as a virtuous example. When available, solar or wind power is fed into the grid. When solar and wind are lacking, conventional non­renewable resources supply the electricity. This system may encourage a smooth transition to cleaner energy, but there is no way to know, when you flick a switch, what type of energy powers the lighting.

The model is useful for products that are indiscriminately mixed at an early stage of a supply chain. This includes cotton. Better Cotton and Aid by Trade, for its Cotton made in Africa label, use mass balance to attribute responsible practices to the farmers. Both organisations, however, have sensed a change in market acceptance and are introducing systems based on physical tracers to offer stronger guarantees of provenance. Conversely, chemicals companies successfully convinced Textile Exchange to modify the scope of its Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and Recycled Content Standard (RCS) to allow for advanced chemical recycling and mass balancing in 2024.

“The chemical industry is undergoing a raw material transformation. While a major part of chemical production is still based on fossil raw materials, BASF is taking steps to become less dependent on fossil resources,” says Birgit Hellmann, BASF’s communication manager for chemical recycling. The German chemicals

Mass balance models, common in fair trade goods, are used when physical traceability is deemed unfeasible. Its innate lack of transparency raises real questions: does it muddy the water and is it, therefore, a form of greenwashing? Or can it encourage the petrochemical industry to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels?

company’s aim, she adds, “is to use more renewable and recycled raw materials in existing production plants”. This is the crux of the issue: alternative feedstocks can be fed into conventional fossil fuel processing infrastructures. Mass balancing allows incremental progress without the expense of building new facilities dedicated entirely to plastic waste or biomass.

Eastman’s sustainability leader for textiles, Claudia de Witte, shares this view. She says: “At our headquarters in Kingsport, Tennessee, we operate a large, integrated cellulose facility that is over 100 years old and that has been designed to operate on virgin feedstocks. To produce Naia Renew, sourced from certified recycled content, we are using existing, at­scale infrastructure, using mass balance to identify and capture the benefits of certified recycled content.”

The polyester renewal technology, based in Kingsport, has been running and generating revenue since March 2024 and now Eastman plans to build two additional recycling facilities using the same technology, one in Texas and one

in France. Each of the plants will have the capacity to process more than 100,000 tonnes of hard­to­recycle, polyester­rich waste per year.

Incremental progress

The advantage of the system is that customers have access to ‘greener’ chemicals that are absolutely identical to virgin ones. “These alternative raw materials are fed into the production chain, alongside fossil raw materials, at such an early stage that the end products remain chemically unchanged,” says Ms Hellmann. BASF applies the mass balance model to a gasification process that is fed with biomass waste, which it calls Biomass Balance. And for products from its ChemCycling line, which processes a combination of fossil raw materials, it feeds in plastic waste and end­of­life tyres. It calls these Ccycled products.

Among the hundreds of chemicals that BASF produces, caprolactam, used to make polyamide, can now carry a recycled or bio­based label as a result of mass balancing. “The corresponding share of recycled feedstock, for example pyrolysis oil, is

attributed to the specific Ccycled product via a certified mass balance approach,” she says, while admitting that “the recycled feedstock is not measurable in the BASF mass balance product.” BASF facilities and Ccycled products are certified by REDcert2 and ISCC Plus. These two certification schemes, it should be noted, are industry­led initiatives.

The recycled biomass-balance caprolactam that Nilit uses to make its Sensil By Nature yarns is produced by BASF, and uses harvested methane as a biogas to replace some of the fossil fuels that would otherwise be used to make the raw material.

CREDIT: NILIT

CREDIT: BASF

BASF’s mass balanced recycled or biomass-derived chemicals have the exact same properties as conventional ones.

Distinct processes

Two distinct processes are at work at Eastman. Its Carbon Renewal Technology (CRT) uses a wide range of hard­to­recycle waste material, which is broken down to the molecular building blocks to produce a high­quality syngas that the company uses as feedstock for its cellulose acetate production process. This is in use in its production of Naia Renew staple fibres and filament yarn, which are sourced from 60% sustainable sourced wood pulp and 40% GRS­certified recycled waste materials.

In parallel, its Polyester Renewal Technology (PRT) uses a methanolysis process to break down hard­to­recycle polyester waste into the basic monomers. It uses these monomers to create virgin­like co­polyesters with the same properties as legacy counterparts.

Both technologies ensure an end­of­life solution for waste that would have been otherwise landfilled, incinerated or lost in the environment. They also contribute to reducing reliance on fossil resources and enable production with a lower carbon footprint. Both are examples of what Claudia de Witte calls “material­to­material recycling”.

Eastman applies an allocation system known as credit ­ based mass balance, creating credits linked to the recycled feedstock mass. These are decoupled during processing, and recoupled after recycling, Ms de Witte explains. “It is based on actual yields and usage into material production,” she adds. “Everything is checked, third ­ party verified and includes virtual and physical traceability.”

Increasing recycled nylon availability

In the activewear sector, recycled polyamide is the main fibre that owes its “recycled” label to mass balancing. The limited volumes of production waste and of pure polyamide post­consumer waste make this low­impact solution quite useful for nylon producers when brands request materials with recycled content. Fulgar, in Italy, uses BASF’s Ccycled polymer in its Q­Cycle yarns. BASF also supplies caprolactam, made from its Biomass Balance process, to Nilit for its ByNature nylon yarns.

“This solution is easy to implement into any collection and contributes to an end goal of reducing carbon emissions,” points out Michelle Lea, marketing manager for Nilit. The Sensil ByNature yarns are also ISCC Plus certified. “As you cannot trace the biogas to the final yarn, this certification provides a way for brands to show that they are having a positive impact by using these yarns. If they want to claim the garment reduces CO2 emissions, then the brand also needs to be ISCC Plus certified,” she notes.

BASF has, like Eastman, worked with Textile Exchange to adapt the organisation’s recycled standard to accept mass balancing. Under Textile Exchange’s new “alternative volume reconciliation” platform, BASF obtained Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) certification for its Ultramid Ccycled polyamide 6 and 6.6 in 2024.

Other nylon producers apply mass balance principles. Ascend, in the US, feeds its Bioserve platform with a portion of used cooking oils allocated to an ISCC Plus­certified nylon 6.6. In Spain, Nurel also sources ISCC­certified caprolactam, made from pre­ and post­consumer residues or biomass. “We buy ISCC certified caprolactam and feed it into our production plant. In the end, we attribute 100% of certified caprolactam to our polyamide 6,” Silvia Catalán, Nurel’s sustainability manager, said in an ISCC press release.

Making claims

Better Cotton, a Swiss non­profit, has mass balanced cotton produced according to its guidelines since its inception in 2009. “It is the chain­of­custody model that laid the foundation for Better Cotton, helping scale our programme and bring immense value to farming communities,” says a company spokesperson. When a brand or retailer becomes a member of the organisation, it can then “make ‘claims’ about commitments made to Better Cotton, and the impact of those commitments”. But the organisation is phasing out the Mass Balance Chain of Custody and

Eastman’s methanolysis and gasification processes can take in difficult-to-recycle plastics and textiles.

CREDIT: EASTMAN

Fulgar has earned Recycled Claim Standard certification for its Q-Cycle yarn. The raw material of this polyamide 6.6 yarn is pyrolysis oil from end-of-life or decommissioned tyres, supplied by BASF.

CREDIT: FULGAR

introducing a new certified standard backed by a physical tracer. The Better Cotton label will now only be allowed on products made from cotton sourced through this new traceability programme.

At the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF), based in Hamburg, a similar move is in the works with the launch of a new Transparency Standard. Prior to this, a company spokesperson says, two systems were used for Cotton made in Africa: Hard Identity Preserved, which tracks cotton from bale to finished product, and Mass Balance “for balancing CmiA cotton with other cotton origins at spinning mill level”. The new traceability platform comes atop these two streams, offering a higher level of assurance and a digital passport.

Courting controversy

These two organisations are addressing one of the main issues that mass balance critics cite: despite what is written on a label, it is impossible to guarantee that ‘better’ cotton is present in any given T­shirt or trousers. It is misleading to consumers. The principle also has critics in the recycling sector. If there is no way to prove that recycled chemicals are present in the final product, it does a disservice to other forms of recycling. Mass balancing is also accused of allowing chemicals companies to pursue business as usual instead of setting up production lines dedicated solely to recycling waste.

Allocation allows a company to make 1% of recycled input appear to be 100% recycled output, says Josse Kunst, general manager of Dutch company CuRe, the developer of a PET plastics and polyester recycling technology. “With mass balance, a product that has not a single recycled molecule in it gets credit at consumer level for having recycled content. This is why I call it ‘Enron’ recycling,” he says, adding that it also diverts funds needed for the development of truly ground­breaking recycling technologies.

“There are recycling processes for packaging and textiles that are not mass balanced, but have a physical one­to­one ratio,” says Ashley Holding, sustainability consultant at Circuvate. “I understand the chemical industry’s position, as it is not viable to build a plant dedicated solely to recycled feedstock. It’s much easier to mix waste with virgin input. But I also understand the frustration from the consumer’s side.” One solution he sees would be to have better certification, but he says even lifecycle assessment (LCA) has no clear position on mass balance.

Zero Waste Europe questions the very notion of associating recycling with pyrolysis. “These chemicals are not recycled but rather recovered,” says Lauriane Veillard, policy officer at ZWE, a network of advocacy groups working to reduce and prevent waste. UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) is its member in the UK. “It is not fair to put mechanically recycled plastics and pyrolysis on the same level,” she continues. “In any given pyrolysis plant, less than 2% of the output is being used to make ‘recycled’ plastics.”

The organisation’s 2023 Leaky Loop report

exposed the many inefficiencies of pyrolysis. But the problem with mass balance is the allocation system that diverts ‘green’ claims to high­value output chemicals. For ZWE, inputs need to be shared across all product streams. Ms Veillard notes that in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been pushing for allocation by weight.

For those on the fence, mass balance is a necessary stage in the petrochemical industry’s transition to renewable resources. But everyone agrees that the system is opaque. “What we need is transparency. A product should clearly display its recycled content, whether it is one, five, ten or even 100%,” says Mr Kunst, who believes that 100% recycled is too good to be true. “Mass balance could be used in a one­for­one system. It could be made simple, clear and easily understandable, not a smokescreen.”

While the smokescreen is being phased out by fair trade and responsible cotton organisations, in synthetics it appears to be spreading. Mass balance may be a pragmatic solution for the petrochemical industry, and for synthetic­dependent performance clothing brands. It is not however a realistic one, as the so­called low­impact chemicals are lost in the shuffle.

AbTF’s new Transparency Standard makes it possible to verify whether a T-shirt or pair of jeans is made from its cotton, and to trace the fibre from its origin to the finished product. This, the organisation says, is crucial for retailers and brands in light of rising transparency and due diligence regulations.

CREDIT: AID BY TRADE FOUNDATION

UPDATE ON EASTMAN’S PRT PLANT IN FRANCE

Late last year, French news agency AFP reported that the $1 billion Polyester Renewal Technology plant Eastman was to build in Port Jerome, France, was being reconsidered. Claudia de Witte, head of sustainability for textiles, tells Sportstextiles that Eastman has successfully gone through two years of administrative processes and that the project has been greenlighted. “We have received all the permits to build the plant. We are now waiting on European Union legislation.” The plant’s viability will depend on various EU regulations, including those on waste, packaging, eco­design, the circular economy, and extended producer responsibility. “We are working on all aspects to make the project go forward,” she says, adding that Europe “needs to recycle its waste regionally”. If the EU decides to allow the import of recycled plastics from low­cost countries, the project may not be viable. Ms de Witte points out that “brands, too, are waiting for clarity in recycled content targets and minimum quantities”.

Transforming more of Africa’s cotton into high-value textile products on home soil will be a game-changer for trade on the continent, the African Export-Import Bank states.

Half a million new textile jobs for Africa

Textile machinery group Rieter has announced a new partnership with Arise, a developer of business parks in Africa. They will work with the African Export­Import Bank on an initiative they are calling the Africa Textile Renaissance Plan. Their plan is to establish 500,000 tonnes of cotton processing capacity in Africa over the next three to five years, with the potential to add a further 500,000 tonnes of capacity further down the road. The plan will have $5 billion in financing.

The partners have also said they aim to create up to 500,000 jobs, reduce Africa’s textile imports, and boost the continent’s textile exports, including to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA has been in place since 2000. Its aim is to set up good economic relations between the US and countries in sub­Sharan Africa to boost the region’s economy. The legislation gave partner companies in Africa an initial 15 years of AGOA status. In 2015, the US extended this for a further ten years. This means that AGOA is up for renewal again this year.

RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

A textile initiative for Africa envisages huge boosts to the continent’s cotton production capacity and to textile­sector employment there.

Trade agreements with the US are a much­discussed subject at the start of 2025 and it is difficult to know what the position of the new administration in Washington DC on AGOA will be. Discussions on extending AGOA beyond 2025 began in November 2023. In April 2024, seven senators, representing both the Democrat and Republican parties, formally introduced the ‘AGOA Renewal and Improvement Act’, which, if it passes, will extend AGOA until 2041. Textiles have always been a key part of AGOA’s focus. One of the improvements that the 2024 act seeks to bring in is a provision to ensure “a viable clothing production sector in several African countries”.

CREDIT: MALICKY BOAZ FOR CMIA

Infrastructure requirements

Approval of this would be good news for Arise and Rieter’s Africa Textile Renaissance Plan. The partners point out that they share the intention to add more value on home soil by transforming Africa’s cotton into high­value textile products. Selection of the countries that will benefit from the new plan will be based on the availability of a reliable energy supply and of the infrastructure required to support large­scale textile parks. In terms of human resources, the renaissance will also include the provision of training centres in the selected countries to allow local people to develop and improve skill levels in textiles and apparel production.

To foster long­term growth, Rieter has committed to establishing a manufacturing presence of its own in Africa, subject, it says, to commercial viability. This will include a repair and maintenance facility in Arise’s existing industrial park in Benin. It will also include establishing spare­parts warehousing and the phased introduction of machine assembly operations. The Swiss company’s range of textile technology includes products for opening and cleaning fibres to improve yarn quality, and others for spinning preparation. It also offers a wide range of spinning systems, as well as systems for winding and texturising yarn.

Green growth

The founder and chief executive of Arise, Gagan Gupta, says the initiative has the potential to make Africa a global leader in sustainable textile production. The group describes itself as a pan­African developer and operator of industrial parks, and as being “committed to making Africa thrive”. It describes its main ambition as “green growth”, by which it means unlocking Africa’s industrial potential, but doing so while “neutralising our carbon emissions and climate impact”. It currently operates in 11 countries. As mentioned, one of these is Benin.

Its Golo­Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ) is a public­private partnership between Arise and the government of Benin, located around 40 kilometres inland from Cotonou, Benin’s biggest city and home to the country’s main airport and to one of the largest seaports in West Africa. GDIZ is still being developed phase by phase but, when complete, it will cover more than 1,600 hectares.

More than 40 industries already have a presence at GDIZ, including pharmaceuticals, ceramics, soyabean and cashew nut processing and even electric bikes production. A major feature, though, is the already established, dedicated GDIZ textile park. Arise describes this facility as fully integrated, with operations from spinning to finished garment production taking place on site. Sports and leisure brand US Polo Association introduced its first made­in­Benin garments in 2024; operators at GDIZ made sweatshirts, polo shirts and T­shirts for the brand.

Benin produced 580,000 tonnes of cotton in season 2022­2023, according to government figures, second in Africa to Mali, where production

“ We are convinced that the plan marks an important starting point for the future development of the textile industry in Africa. ”

THOMAS OETTERLI, RIETER

that season reached 690,000 tonnes. The Benin government presents its crop as sustainable, rain­fed, GMO­free and traceable through the Cotton made in Africa programme.

Future development

Rieter’s chief executive, Thomas Oetterli, says: “We are convinced that the Africa Textile Renaissance Plan marks an important starting point for the future development of the textile industry in Africa.” For his part, Nigerian economist Professor Benedict Oramah, who is president of the African Export­Import Bank, says that transforming the raw material that Africa’s cotton production provides into high­value textile products on home soil will be a game­changer for trade on the continent. “It will drive industrialisation and reduce dependence on imports,” he says, “while building a competitive export base.”

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Africa’s so­called Cotton Four (C4) countries, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin and Chad, continue to place great economic importance on the fibre, even though other export categories now have greater prominence. For example, in the year 2000, cotton contributed 55% of Burkina Faso’s total export revenues. By 2020, this figure had fallen to 3% as gold took over. Something similar happened in Mali, while petroleum has become by far the principal source of export revenue in Chad. Benin, which produces gold, refined petroleum and cotton, appears to have a better export balance. In each of the four countries, FAO estimates, cotton still provides a livelihood for around 20% of the population. To take the African cotton sector forward, adding value, securing these jobs and creating new ones, is important work.

Ring-spinning technology from Rieter. The Swiss company has said it will set up machine production in Africa as part of the new Africa Textile Renaissance Plan.

CREDIT: RIETER

The rough and tumble of the trail can accelerate delamination of cemented soles on footwear. Keen claims its innovative direct-injection process, Fusion, is three times stronger than adhesive.

ALL CREDITS: KEEN

The fight for durability

Asoling innovation has helped outdoor footwear brand Keen win recognition from Time magazine. The brand’s Targhee IV hiking boot was one of the products that the magazine listed among the ‘Best Inventions’ of 2024. Following this recognition and what Keen has called an “initially limited debut” last year, the boot is back as part of the company’s spring­summer 2025 collection.

Features that enhance the durability of the Targhee IV are what captured the attention of the evaluation team. “A hiking boot breaks down when dirt, mud and water cause the midsole to become unglued from the outsole,” the magazine summarised. “This is called delamination, and delamination is the enemy of durability.”

The use of a recently launched, proprietary technology called Keen Fusion in the construction of the Targhee IV is at the core of the footwear brand’s response to this age­old problem. This

NEWCOMERS

A “radical step forward” in making its footwear more durable helped Keen win recognition in Time’s ‘Best Inventions’ list at the end of 2024.

technology re­engineers the way the outsole, midsole and upper are joined together. Fusion works by using heat, pressure and high levels of automation to inject a liquid polyurethane into the space between the upper and the outsole. The liquid solidifies in seconds and forms the midsole of each boot. It also forms bonds that are three times stronger than those on offer from glue. Injecting the midsole between the upper and the outsole fuses the whole shoe together. “I’m thrilled to see our Targhee IV come to life,” says

the brand’s senior vice­president for product, Scott Labbe. He describes the product as “a radical boot” and as “footwear that is no longer limited by weak bonds and short­term fixes”. He says this is a testament to the company’s commitment to reducing the impact of its shoes.

Testing has proved the Targhee IV’s robustness. In in­house lab tests, the boot did not break down after 1,600 kilometres of use. It also stood up to all attempts on the lab’s ‘pull machine’ to force the components of the boot apart.

Unstuck in the mud

Delamination occurs when the adhesive that is usually used to attach the outsole to the rest of the shoe begins to degrade. When this happens, the sole starts to peel away, making the footwear unwearable. Repairs are often possible but will only last as long as it takes for delamination to strike again. And the unsticking can occur at the least convenient moment. At some point, most hikers will have come across the detached, abandoned sole of a fellow­walker’s boot in the mud or by the side of the trail.

In the face of this, Fusion is “a radical step forward”, Keen insists. Fusing the sole and upper of the boot together using the midsole as a lasting bonding mechanism constitutes an innovative direct­injection process, the company claims. As well as enhancing durability, this eliminates the need for solvents, it says, taking “toxic glues” out of the equation. The midsole still works as a midsole, too, of course, providing supportive cushioning and high levels of shock­absorption “adventure after adventure”, the company states.

Performance­enhancing lugs

Other features that enhance the Targhee IV’s sustainability story include leather sourced from tanneries certified by multi­stakeholder body the Leather Working Group (LWG). Certified tanneries must meet the LWG’s requirements in areas such as reducing their consumption of energy, chemicals and water. The boots are built for long­lasting performance and comfort, Keen says. The outsole that Fusion fuses to the rest of the boot is also proprietary, from the brand’s Rugged range, with hard ­ wearing multidirectional lugs that offer good traction on “even the harshest of terrains”. The company describes the material it has used in this outsole as being twice as durable as rubber.

The product also features a removable, air­injected insole from the company’s Luftcell range. The fibres in the laces are recycled and moisture protection comes from the Keen Dry breathable waterproof membrane and a proprietary, PFAS­free durable water repellency finish. There is also odour protection from proprietary technology that is free from pesticides and harmful chemicals.

Sustainability is an important part of Keen’s push forward with Fusion, too. It has the machinery in place in its own facilities in Thailand and the US to put the new process into practice

and this has allowed it to collect important data. From this, it now knows that footwear construction with Fusion consumes 3.5 times less electricity per pair than the process with traditional cement construction. Using less energy and no solvents has led the company to calculate that the carbon footprint of a pair of boots made with Fusion is 1 kilogramme of CO2­equivalent lower than the figure for non­Fusion footwear.

“Durability is sustainability, and so is reducing the use of energy and solvents,” Keen concludes. “We are on a mission to make the world’s cleanest, longest­lasting shoes. We call this ‘Consciously Created’, and Fusion is a big step forward on our journey.” There is more to come.

The advancement in soling technology that Keen Fusion represents earned the brand inclusion in the list of Time magazine’s ‘Best Inventions’ of 2024.

ALL CREDITS: KEEN

Solvent-free. The upper and outsole of a low-cut Targhee IV boot, with the injected midsole in the middle bonding all the parts together.

ALL CREDITS: NEW BALANCE

Preferred materials

Because it wants to “keep pushing forward”, athletic footwear brand New Balance is moving the goalposts on itself, amending the environmental goals it has in place and setting more ambitious targets for the rest of this decade. Collecting accurate data to measure its performance is the only basis for framing these objectives, according to the company’s environmental impact assessment lead, responsible leadership and global compliance manager, Nicole Sala. “The route to decarbonisation starts with corporate assessment,” she says. “There is a lot of old data in our supply chains; collecting better data is a good place to focus our efforts.”

In its most recent sustainability report, published in summer 2024, New Balance highlights six points to focus on, which it refers to as “areas of meaningful change”. This article examines the company’s efforts to make improvements in two of these, energy and materials.

Energy boost

The “aggressive goals” (its own term) that arise from its focus on these subjects include the aim to source from renewable resources 100% of the electricity it consumes in the facilities that it

Footwear brand New Balance is using data from LCA exercises to reset its environmental targets and its definition of ‘preferred materials’. This is already informing changes to product design.

owns. By the end of 2023, it calculated that it was 90% of the way towards meeting this target. Another positive result is that it had completed 59% of the journey towards its target for reducing emissions from scopes one and two, which is to say emissions from its own facilities and from the energy those facilities consume. Compared to the levels for 2019, it wants to bring those emissions down by 60% by 2030.

For scope three, though, which is the indirect emissions that occur upstream in the supply chain, for which the goal is a reduction of 50% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, there is plenty of work left to do. In the newest sustainability report, New Balance said it made progress towards this of only 3%.

The Hierro v7. LCA analysis of this shoe informed the design changes for a new version.

FOOTWEAR TECHNOLOGY

Meaningful changes

It is from focusing on this, Nicole Sala points out, that energy and materials have emerged as particularly interesting areas in which to try to make meaningful changes. These two aspects of the business present a specific challenge in the upstream supply chain. After collecting and analysing the data, the company found that 71% of impact came either from the energy that suppliers’ production processes consume, or from raw materials.

Leather is one of the key raw materials in its portfolio and, therefore, a key feature of the scope­three picture for New Balance. It had been working towards a target of sourcing 100% preferred leather by 2025. By the end of 2023, it was 94% of the way towards achieving this. It came up with its own definition of preferred leather, initially stipulating that the material should be sourced from tanneries with a ‘gold’ rating from multi­stakeholder initiative the Leather Working Group (LWG). It also said at first that the leather it used had to be either chrome­free, or sourced from ranches practising regenerative agriculture.

Aim low

In 2024, though, the company decided to add new aspects to its definition of preferred leather, expanding what can constitute approved material. It has now decided to include what it calls low­emission leather. For the amended target, 100% of the leather it sources must, by 2030, be chrome­free, regenerative or lowemission. Of course, what low­emission means needs nailing down, too. The company will consider leather to be low­emission if the tannery that supplies it has completed a lifecycle assessment (LCA) exercise and can show its leather to have a carbon footprint of less than 18 kilos of CO2­equivalent per kilo of leather.

Knots in the cotton

New Balance has other preferred materials, too. It has work to do on sourcing preferred cotton, which is cotton that either comes from the programmes run by sustainability initiative Better Cotton, or from certified organic sources. The target is to have 100% preferred cotton by the end of 2025, but the most recent sustainability report put the figure for 2023 at only 38%.

Round in circles. New Balance says it is trying “new approaches to design for circularity”, focused on reducing waste, incorporating recycled feedstock and extending product life.

The LWG ‘gold’ stipulation remains, but only for tanneries that have an annual production capacity of more than 1 million square­feet of finished leather. Leather manufacturing facilities that have a capacity of under 1 million square­feet must also engage with LWG, but completing an audit with the organisation will be enough to clear the New Balance hurdle. Again, by 2030, all New Balance leather must meet whichever of these two criteria applies to the supplier.

These changes have come about because the shoe company now has more in­depth knowledge than it did before about its leather supply chain and the material’s contribution to its overall carbon footprint. “We know where the CO2 emission impacts are in leather,” Nicole Sala says. “The processes for retanning hides and finishing them at our tier­two suppliers account for between 10% and 30% of our leather’s impact, and between 70% and 90% comes from the upstream phases, up to and including wet­end tanning.”

This was “a significant decline” from the proportion of preferred cotton that it reported in 2022, but the company has explained that the “corporate assessment” work that Nicole Sala refers to has recently flagged up “data anomalies” with cotton. These include variances in units of measurement and reporting periods. It says this has caused it to question the numbers for 2022 and 2023. It says it will revise its cotton calculations and the processes related to them. It remains to be seen if this will lead to a change in the target for this fibre. It is not giving up on cotton; quite the reverse. It has identified that some of its “highest­volume blended materials” are good targets for its wider sustainability efforts and it has pledged to reduce drastically the amount of polyester in these blends, or convert products to 100% cotton, of the preferred types, naturally.

Fast­paced change

It will continue to use synthetic fibres as well, principally polyester, which New Balance says is its most used material of all. But not just any polyester. By 2030, it will use only preferred polyester. A 2023 target was to make 50% of its

polyester recycled by 2025. The result for 2023 was a figure that was higher than that target, reaching 56%. “This achievement demonstrates that meaningful, fast­paced change is possible,” the company says. Based on this, the 2024 changes state that 25% of recycled polyester must, by 2030, derive from textile waste feedstock, or from biological sources (although not from human food sources).

Synthetic materials (with bio­based content) also go into the soles of the shoes, but it should be no surprise to learn that New Balance has preferred compounds for these components. By 2030, it aims to use 80% preferred midsole materials and 90% preferred outsole components. A proportion of bio­based ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) from sugarcane or recycled midsole foam are a small but important part of its preferred midsole materials, a minimum of 3% of the former and 5% of the latter. For outsoles, the 5% recycled content applies, too, in this case recycled rubber or bio­based compounds.

It acknowledges that this will mean that most of the midsoles and outsoles will continue to have a synthetic composition, but argues that, even with these small percentages, the “impact at scale across the business” will be large.

Lowest­carbon­footprint shoe

LCA projects that New Balance has worked on with specialist Milan­based consultancy Spin360 have helped inform the changes the company is now making to its environmental targets. It has already put into effect some of the lessons it has learned from LCA and it has begun to see concrete evidence of the benefits. “We know our lowest­carbon­footprint shoe,” Nicole Sala explains. “It’s a performance running shoe called the Hierro v8.”

“ The route to decarbonisation starts with corporate assessment. There is a lot of old data in our supply chains; collecting better data is a good place to focus our efforts. ” NICOLE SALA, NEW BALANCE

This version of the Hierro shoe incorporates design changes that LCA analysis of its immediate predecessor, Hierro v7, inspired. The study focused on a pair of Hierro v7 in US size 9.5. It took into account raw materials, raw material production, assembly of the shoes, distribution, use equivalent to 100 wears, and end of life.

Under these circumstances, the outcome of the analysis is that this pair of Hierro v7 would have a carbon impact of 7.93 kilos of CO2­equivalent. As Ms Sala says, raw materials have come out as the biggest contributors to this figure, with the midsole, outsole and upper mesh the components contributing the highest impact. This is mainly because of the compounds used to construct them, energy and the dyeing of the mesh upper.

Changes for the Hierro v8 include some use of bio­based materials, recycled content and what New Balance calls “low­waste design elements”, but, it insists, without any compromise on performance. The result is a carbon impact for the redesigned shoe of 6.49 kilos of CO2­equivalent, a reduction of 18%. What the brand has taken away from this is that using data to drive design changes can produce encouraging results. It is setting its environmental goals accordingly.

Use of bio-based materials, recycled content and “low-waste design elements” have helped give the Hierro v8 a carbon impact that is 18% lower than that of its predecessor.

Spanbond Spanbond

Stitchless Stitchless

SINGLE & MULTILAYER THERMOPLASTIC ADHESIVES

Ecobond Ecobond

JellyBond JellyBond

A seat at the table

“Ihad no idea leather was made from cow hides,” says England footballer Maya Le Tissier as part of a Puma podcast on sustainability in fashion. “I don’t know what I thought it was made of, but definitely not a cow.”

She joins fellow footballer Moses Duckrell and fashion blogger Oliver Bromfield on a series called Green Flags, which Puma launched in a bid to offer more transparency around its materials and manufacturing in a way that is accessible to younger consumers. One of the episodes, Lessons in Leather, uses a quiz format to explore the topic, highlighting that up to 45% of hides are ending up in landfill. When asked, “Are all ‘vegan leather’ materials made from natural materials?” the panellists were shocked to find out most are plastic­based. “I thought vegan meant it would be completely pure,” says Duckrell. Their comments support Leather UK findings that 10% of people don’t know what leather is made of and half have no idea what ‘vegan leather’ is.

“Throughout this episode we quote reliable data sources,” adds Mr Duckrell – with the Nothing to Hide website, operated by Sportstextiles publisher World Trades Publishing, listed as one of the sources. More than 640,000 people had viewed the leather episode on YouTube alone at the time of going to press.

Youth driven

In 2023, Puma launched Voices of a Re:Generation, an initiative that aims to include Generation Z’s perspectives and recommendations on sustainability, and a continuation of its Conference of the People event in London. Its own research found 71% of young people felt their voices weren’t being heard when it comes to the

SUSTAINABILITY

Puma has enlisted ‘youth voices’ and influencers to explore questions surrounding sustainability in fashion ­ and uses our Nothing to Hide website to inform the debate.

environment and would like to see brands making more commitments (49%), communicating their goals better (40%) and being more transparent (34%). “We’ve always documented our progress in sustainable practices,” commented Puma’s chief sourcing officer, Anne­Laure Descours, at the time. “However, our participation in Conference of the People shed light on the fact that the information we share isn’t always easily understood by the next generation.”

The Green Flags podcasts are an extension of a series called #Knowyourstuff, which features the Voices of a Re:Generation. One of these ‘voices’ is Aishwarya Sharma, an Indian ‘fashion activist’ , who explores the debate around leather versus non­leather in a seven­part short video series, available on YouTube and on Puma’s channels. The German brand has a long history with leather, with its first shoes in 1948 made from leather and many millions having been produced since, but the material only accounts for around 4% of its footwear materials today.

Although the video starts with offering a platform to animal rights activists PETA’s false claims that more than 1 billion animals are slaughtered for their skins each year, Puma’s senior director of sustainability, Veronique

The Re:Fibre process uses any polyester material – from factory offcuts, faulty goods to pre-loved clothes - and allows new garments to be made from any colour textile. Austria, Czech Republic, Iceland, Switzerland and Serbia kits were among the first to be made of the material.

ALL CREDITS: PUMA

Rochet, counters this by explaining that leather is a by­product of the beef industry and that if the skins weren’t used, they would be sent to landfill. Peta’s claim that leather has six times the environmental impact of polyurethane is also left unchallenged, as is its suggestion that mushroom and olive­based materials are scalable and viable alternatives.

Tannery tour

This myth is denounced in the next episode when Ms Sharma visits Puma’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Romain Girard, vice­president of innovation, says while the company is assessing new materials such as mycelium, and hybrid materials containing olives, pineapples and vine leaves, as well as a 100% TPU shoe, they do not meet the quality requirements and they cost at least twice as much as its current options. “Consumers are not willing to pay double for these materials,” he admits, adding that they are continuing research with suppliers. “But it’s not just about vegan versus non­vegan, it’s about footprint. The natural alternative (mushroom) has a high energy consumption whereas the 100% plastic is very easy to recycle. So, which is better?”

Aishwarya heads to Thailand to the CPL tannery, to find out more about the tanning process. Although little detail is given, she explains how its Zeology leather is made with fewer chemicals and less energy, and helps to make the limited­edition Puma Re:Suede compostable, in certain conditions. Zeology is a tanning method created by Smit & Zoon’s Nera, based on the mineral zeolite and is chrome­free, heavy metal­free and aldehyde­free. She also visits CPL’s water treatment plant, showing how bacteria are used to clean the water before it is discharged back to the environment.

“Sustainability can be complex and the leather topic is embedded with sensitive themes, so I’ve taken care in making sure this is approached in an open and transparent way that inspires people to become informed about the materials they choose to wear,” she concludes. Perhaps a look at how the synthetic materials are made and their end­of­life options would have rounded the debate out further.

Carbon reductions

Last November, Puma published updated sustainability targets, which were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as aligned with a 1.5­degree scenario. As part of its 10for25, announced in 2019, it cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emission 24% between 2022 and 2023, partly by asking core suppliers to use more renewable energy, but also by using less carbon­intensive transport and raw materials. By 2030, the German brand is now seeking to cut its Scope 1 and 2 [its own] GHG emissions by a massive 90% from a 2017 baseline year and has committed to reduce Scope 3 [manufacturing] GHG emissions from its supply chain and logistics by 33% compared with 2017. It will insist on increased

renewable energy use at its core suppliers, and perhaps a move away from virgin synthetic materials will also be necessary to reach this goal.

The Green Flags podcast tries to make this information digestible to young people, discussing carbon intensive modes of transport and food choices and explaining how small changes can make a difference on GHG emissions and climate change. They also look at how repairing and upcycling trainers and clothes can be a way to extend their life and reduce waste.

Fibre to fibre

The final Green Flags podcast looks at Puma’s Re:Fibre initiative – a textile­to­textile programme whereby garments are chemically broken down into their main components, colours are filtered out and the material is repolymerised and made into a yarn. From the start of the 24/25 season, “millions” of replica jerseys from 35 clubs were made from at least 75% textile­to­textile waste, with the remaining 25% from other recycled sources. The podcasters were asked to make a garment or accessory from waste, in a bid to open the discussion on recycling, and Puma ‘voice of a Re:Generation’ Andrew Bromfield explained ReFibre in simple terms.

As part of the new 2030 targets, Puma has committed to more circular business models and to introduce resell and repair in some countries. It also aims to use only recycled polyester fabric, with 30% of this from fibre­to­fibre sources, while 20% of cotton fabric will also be recycled. Informing younger consumers about these materials is key, it says. "By openly discussing the complexities of the materials used in our products, like leather and its alternatives, we hope to foster a more informed and balanced conversation about sustainable clothing and footwear choices,” concludes Ms Descours. “The climate crisis can seem overwhelming, however all of us have the power to make better decisions for the future of our planet. It’s vital that we travel this journey with our next generation to create awareness and inspire collective change.”

Puma’s

DESPITE GROWTH, COST-CUTTING ON HORIZON

Puma has reported a 5% rise in revenues for 2024 to €8.8 billion in 2024, with its footwear sales increasing almost 10% over the year before. All regions, product divisions and distribution channels improved sales compared with the previous year.

However, earnings came in at €282 million, which is below the year before (€305 million). The company has now launched an “efficiency programme” to “optimise direct and indirect costs, including personnel expenses through better resource allocation aligned with our strategic growth areas”.

Arne Freundt, CEO of Puma, said: "While we achieved solid sales growth in 2024 and made meaningful progress on our strategic initiatives, we are not satisfied with our profitability. With a heightened focus on translating top­line growth to increased profitability growth, we have initiated 'nextlevel', a comprehensive efficiency programme targeting cost optimisation and operational improvements. Combined with decisive actions already taken, we will implement further cost control measures in 2025.”

Romain Girard explains ‘next-generation’ materials are currently too expensive and do not meet the quality standards to use at scale.

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Juan Cutina, sales director of Cirql.

Worth waiting for

An almost three­year quest at OrthoLite’s Cirql division to add a biodegradable midsole material to its recyclable offering is complete. It launched Cirql Zero at the end of 2024 and promptly picked up an ISPO BrandNew Award.

On the face of it, endowing Cirql Zero with durability and also with more than 90% biodegradability within 180 days may seem like a contradiction. What is involved in achieving both at the same time?

It’s not a contradiction because this does not affect the durability of the shoe. The material is industrially compostable. That means it needs to go to a specialist company at end of life, an operator that can control the humidity, the temperature and so on. That is the only way in which our material will biodegrade. Otherwise, for all the time the material is in a shoe, there will never be any problem. Biodegradability will only happen under very specific conditions at end of life.

Without giving away any state secrets, what were the main technical challenges in developing Cirql Zero?

Officially this is the first version of an industrially compostable and biodegradable foam that we have launched onto the market. We worked on the development of earlier versions of this; in the end, these didn’t work. This was because it was difficult to meet the physical properties that are usually required for a performance shoe. So this is the first version that has come onto the market. We are working on a second version that is coming soon. This second version will have better properties and will be more suitable for use in a wide variety of shoes.

What is the current appetite among major footwear brands for compostability and biodegradability in the materials they use? What drives their interest in this?

Well I think that brands are really interested in this new technology because they are looking for a real end­of­life solution for their shoes. Until now, there has not been a material of this kind, a material that really is an end­of­life solution, one that is compostable. This is something that will be interesting for the brands going forward. Brands have been working intensely in recent years to increase the levels of recycled content in the

CREDIT: WTP

Juan Cutina was appointed sales director of OrthoLite’s Cirql division in 2022. He believes a biodegradable version of the company’s midsole material was worth the wait.

materials they use, but this is not a complete solution. Ultimately, they need something that can become compost and go into the soil and, so, avoid landfill.

How does this compare with demand for recyclability at the moment?

This is a very interesting question. Basically, we are offering our customers two different end­of­life solutions. One is composability, and the other is recyclability. We launched Cirql rTPU30 as a midsole foam last year. This is a product that has 30% recycled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) content and 100% recyclability. This means that after the shoes have been used, the material can come back to Cirql. We can put it back into production and reuse the material. This is a way of closing the loop.

In your opinion, what are the roadblocks in footwear recycling that make it important to have other end-of-life options?

The main challenge that the industry is facing at the moment is the work of separating out the different materials and components after consumers return shoes that they have used. Once you separate out the different components, you often have to send them back to specific, specialist companies to start the recycling process. This is the main challenge brands are facing. From Cirql’s point of view, we are trying to help. We are trying to put brands in touch with specialist companies that are already working on this. Some of these companies are in North America, others are in Europe. It’s going to be a long journey and we are still at a very early stage.

The European Commission’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR) will soon come into application for large footwear companies, with one of its main aims being to discourage the destruction of unsold products. Our reading of the ESPR guidelines so far is that an unsold shoe could go into the ground if this were “the most environmentally friendly alternative”. Is this good news or bad news for Cirql Zero?

“ Brands are really interested in this new technology because they are looking for a real end­of­life solution for their shoes.

JUAN CUTINA, CIRQL

I am not an expert on the legislation, to be honest. I am not in that field. But I think it is something important and a way of moving forward. For that reason, I think it is something positive for Cirql and for the brands.

It is coming up to three years since Cirql’s launch. In that time, how has Cirql’s standing in the footwear materials sector, and in the wider OrthoLite set-up, developed?

We have seen a lot of interest in Cirql from the market. It has taken three years, but now we have our two products, Cirql rTPU30 and Cirql Zero. The market has had to wait, but we have worked hard to bring these products out. In some ways it feels like it has been a really long journey for us to bring out our biodegradable product, but I can tell you there is a lot of interest in it from the market. The news that we have Cirql Zero ready for commercialisation now has been very well received.

What are the most important changes that have taken place in the course of these three years?

When we started three years ago we were running a manufacturing process called supercritical foaming injection. One important change is that we realised after a time that this process was not going to work, mainly because we were not able to achieve the main physical properties that the footwear industry requires. We have moved to another manufacturing process, a composite manufacturing process called autoclave. With this process, we have achieved the properties we were looking for. That has been the main change.

Shifting to the autoclave composite manufacturing process helped Cirql meet the footwear industry’s physical property requirements.

CREDIT: ORTHOLITE/CIRQL

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