To meet the target of recycling the equivalent of 1.5 billion t-shirts’ worth of textile waste by the fiscal year 2030, US fiber giant Unifi Inc. has launched two new products featuring materials made from textile waste, Repreve and ThermaLoop.
ThermaLoop and Repreve filament yarn are included in its circular material line, which it claims has the broadest portfolio of regenerated performance polyester globally.
The company emphasized that this commercial sustainability addresses a significant issue facing businesses that depend on polyester, especially fashion labels, which have long aimed to produce circular clothing to achieve sustainability objectives.
White-dyeable filament yarn ThermaLoop is composed of at least 50% textile waste and 100% recycled polyester feedstock, resulting in new goods that meet virgin-quality criteria.
It is available in down-like fiber, fiber ball, and padding, and offers performance, recovery, and thermal efficiency. Unifi highlighted that the padding is engineered with Repreve’s “low melt fiber,” an innovation that enables the production of 100% recycled synthetic padding.
Accordingly, the new circular Repreve filament yarn is described as a white, dyeable, high-performance polyester, designed for the most critical applications, with widespread versatility across industries, applications, and colorways.
Eddie Ingle, CEO of Unifi Inc. said, “Textile brands can now create solutions with the entire product life cycle in mind and work towards achieving their 2030 environmentally preferred materials targets. Our goal is to provide the best-in-class sustainable products that eliminate the need for virgin materials and reduce carbon emissions.”
Both Repreve filament yarn and ThermaLoop are traceable with FiberPrint technology and certified by U-Trust, as well as being Oeko-Tex, GRS, and SCS certified for recycled content.
Besides, the two new materials are powered by the company’s propriety Textile Takeback process, representing a major leap forward in scalable textile-to-textile recycling.
In terms of sustainability, Unifi will partner with global brands to take back their waste and keep materials in circulation longer to further enhance value throughout the supply chain.
Unifi showcased the two new products at the Intertextile Apparel Fabrics Shanghai trade show, and now Unifi can be seamlessly integrated into current supply chains without causing any disruptions.
Notably, these products also support Unifi’s goal of recycling 1.5 billion t-shirts’ worth of textile waste by the end of the 2030 fiscal year.
