Lululemon has made a minority investment in Australian recycling company Samsara Eco.
The companies will collaborate to make recycled nylon and polyester from the apparel waste generated while producing Lululemon’s athletic apparel and use it to create brand-new apparel, Lululemon said in a Thursday (May 18) press release.
“Nylon remains our biggest opportunity to achieve our 2030 sustainable product goals,” Lululemon Vice President of Raw Materials Innovation Yogendra Dandapure said in the release. “This partnership demonstrates what’s possible through collective innovation to solve unmet needs.”
As PYMNTS reported in July, circular fashion may be the next big thing in the apparel industry.
The trend is gaining steam as more supporters within the industry join the cause. For example, Swiss sportswear brand On launched a subscription program in which customers get an endless supply of running shoes, provided they return worn-out pairs to be recycled.
Similarly, clothing company H&M offers a program called Close the Loop that allows customers to bring their unwanted clothing to any in-store recycling bin and receive a coupon to use toward their next purchase.
Another fast-fashion company, Zara-owner Inditex, has a sustainability initiative called Zara Preowned that enables consumers to prolong the usable life of their clothing by either having it repaired, reselling it or donating it.
“Circularity will play a key role in the future of retail and apparel,” Lululemon said in its Thursday press release.
The textile-to-textile recycling enabled by the new partnership of Lululemon and Samsara Eco joins some other moves the apparel maker has made toward its goal of creating a circular ecosystem by 2030, according to the release.
Those moves include Lululemon’s April launch of products manufactured from plant-based nylon, made in collaboration with sustainable materials firm Geno, and the apparel maker’s continued promotion of its Like New reCommerce program, the release said.
“We’re proud that this partnership is disrupting the apparel industry,” Samsara Eco CEO and founder Paul Riley said in a Friday (May 19) press release. “The ability to infinitely recycle textiles, including nylon, is an essential solution to tackle the enormous challenge of textile waste in the apparel industry.”
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