Dive Brief:

• The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill has announced a partnership with Repreve, a sustainable fiber brand made from recyclables.
• The collaboration will launch at a UNC basketball game on December 3. UNC Athletics is the first collegiate athletics program to join forces with Repreve, with the hopes of increasing awareness about recycling
• The initiative will not only cover the athletic department, but will expand across the entire campus. 

Dive Insight:

Repreve manufactures products from recycled plastic bottles. Before the game gets underway, Repreve will distribute 22,000 t-shirts made from 45,000 plastic bottles to fans in attendance. In addition, 2015 graduates will don gowns made from Repreve fibers; 27 plastic bottles go into making each garment. 

Although the UNC partnership marks the first time the company has collaborated with a college athletics department, Repreve is no stranger to the sporting world. In August, Repreve announced it would outfit the Detroit Lions quarterbacks in practice jerseys made from the sustainable material. 

A campus-wide plastic bottle recycling goal is also in the works, and its proceeds will be donated to a cancer research and treatment center at UNC.