A recycling
breakthrough
"It may look like an ordinary t-shirt, but make no mistake, the technology behind it is extraordinary!” Emmanuel Ladent, CEO, CARBIOS
October 29, 2024"It may look like an ordinary t-shirt, but make no mistake, the technology behind it is extraordinary!” Emmanuel Ladent, CEO, CARBIOS
October 29, 2024For the first time, a piece of clothing is made entirely from textile waste – no bottles, no packaging, no virgin plastic, just 100% biorecycled fibres. With pioneering developments such as these, the textile industry takes a massive step towards a more circular economy.
But what is CARBIOS?
Founded in 2011, CARBIOS is a biotech company with the mission to develop and industrialize new biological solutions to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles. It’s greater aim? To reduce textile and plastic pollution and accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
Together with consortium partners PUMA, ON, Pantagonia, PVH Corp. and Salomon, the world’s first enzymatically recycled polyester garment made from 100% textile waste is introduced. This collective achievement is especially crucial in today’s world, as most recycled polyester is made from PET bottles and only 1% of fibres are recycled into new fibres.
How is this possible?
CARBIOS’ biorecycling technology uses enzymes to break down polyester into its core components, creating high-quality recycled polyester. By turning textile waste into raw material for new polyester, it fuels a circular economy.
What about PUMA’s role in this?
PUMA along with the other brands, teamed up to turn textile waste into a brand-new sports t-shirt! They sent fabric scraps—including tough-to-recycle blends with cotton, elastane, and treatments like water repellents—to CARBIOS in France. Using cutting-edge biorecycling tech, the waste was broken down to its raw materials and transformed into new fabric, ready to be spun and woven into t-shirts. The result? A 100% recycled sports t-shirt that’s as high-quality as anything made from virgin materials.
“PUMA’s wish is to have 100% of our polyester coming from textile waste. Today’s announcement is an important milestone towards achieving this and making our industry more circular. We now need to work together to make sure we can scale up this technology to make the largest possible impact. We’re excited to be part of this breakthrough and setting new standards for fiber-to-fiber recycling.”
Industry-wide change can only be made possible through collaboration.
There’s only one FOREVER. Let’s make it BETTER.
