News article
Puma steps up recycling efforts with RE:FIBRE commitment
Global sportswear company Puma has announced that it will begin creating all replica football kits using RE:FIBRE technology instead of recycled polyester.
Puma launched its RE:FIBRE pilot scheme in 2022, with the initiative focusing on producing recycled training shirts for its sponsored football clubs. The technology has since been used to create Switzerland and Morocco replica kits for the Women’s World Cup, as well as this season’s third kit for Spanish LaLiga team Girona.
From 2024, all official Puma replica football shirts, including those made for Euro 2024 and the Copa América, will be made using RE:FIBRE recycled materials that were made of old garments and factory waste, rather than only recycled bottles. This excludes local replicas for Fenerbahçe, Shakhtar Donetsk and locally sourced kits.
Puma is using its RE:FIBRE programme to address the challenge of textile waste. The technology also seeks to diversify the fashion industry’s main source of recycled polyester in garments from being less reliant on clear plastic bottles.
"Textile waste build-up in landfills is an environmental risk."
The first step of the RE:FIBRE process focuses on the collection and sorting of textile waste and other previously wasteful materials. The materials are then shredded and mixed down, before the shredded polyester is melted down and any previous dyes are removed. The newly produced polymers are then ready to be spun and sewn into shape to create “good as new” RE:FIBRE fabric which can be recycled again and again.
Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at Puma, said: “Our wish is to have 100% of product polyester coming from textile waste. Textile waste build-up in landfills is an environmental risk. Rethinking the way we produce and moving towards a more circular business model is one of the main priorities of our sustainability strategy.”