PUMA, a leading sportswear brand, is part of a consortium that has unveiled the world’s first piece of clothing made entirely from textile waste. This groundbreaking garment—a plain white T-shirt—was created using a new biorecycling technology developed by French company CARBIOS.
The T-shirt was made from a mix of colored and non-colored textile waste. CARBIOS’ biorecycling technology breaks down polyester using enzymes, turning it back into its basic building blocks. These blocks are then used to create high-quality biorecycled polyester, which is comparable to virgin polyester made from petroleum.
Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA, shared the company’s goal: “PUMA aims to source 100% of its polyester from textile waste. Today’s announcement marks a key step toward that goal and toward making our industry more sustainable.” She added, “We need to scale up this technology to make the biggest impact possible. This is a breakthrough that sets new standards for recycling textiles.”
The goal of the consortium is to help the textile industry shift toward a circular economy. By advancing CARBIOS’ enzymatic recycling technology, they aim to achieve 100% “fibre-to-fibre” recycling. This process uses textile waste instead of petroleum to produce new polyester textiles, which can then be reused as raw materials. This approach reduces carbon emissions and prevents textile waste from being dumped in landfills or incinerators.
Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of CARBIOS, emphasized the significance of the project: “This may look like an ordinary T-shirt, but the technology behind it is anything but ordinary. Achieving ‘fibre-to-fibre’ recycling is a major technological achievement.” He added, “This couldn’t have been done without the collaboration of our partners. Together, we’ve overcome many technical challenges to create the world’s first T-shirt made entirely from biorecycled fibers.”
Currently, most recycled polyester is made from PET bottles, and only about 1% of textile fibers are recycled into new fabrics. This milestone is an important step toward demonstrating a closed-loop, fibre-to-fibre recycling process at an industrial scale. The consortium hopes this achievement will help transform the textile industry and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Related topics:
