Dive Brief:
- The North Face, an outdoor product and apparel company, announced that it is using three of Unifi's Repreve materials in its Denali line of jackets.
- Adding the environmentally-friendly fibers to the fleece outerwear will significantly reduce the amount of water and chemicals used to dye and finish the apparel.
- In addition, the company will also use Repreve’s recycled yarn and “Textile Takeback” yarn into its jackets. The yarn is made from recycled bottles and scraps of fabric.
Dive Insight:
Waste cut from the fabric during the jacket’s production is collected and transported to Repreve’s recycling center in North Carolina. The textiles are recycled into the “Takeback Yarn.” This and the yarn produced using recycled bottles are knit into new fabric for use in the coats. About 15% of textiles used in garment production is typically discarded in the manufacturing process.
The North Face said that for every 10 Denali jackets produced, there is enough fabric to make four additional jackets.
In November 2014, Repreve announced it had partnered with the UNC-Chapel Hill athletics department to introduce a line of sustainable fibers made from recyclables.
