Like fashion players, sports equipment manufacturers work to reduce waste and waste and ultimately reduce their impact on the planet. This is the case at Puma, which is now experimenting with a new recycling method aimed at making football shirts from old models, destined for its partner clubs. A perfect example of circular economy.
Traded with other players, offered to fans or donated to associations… Football shirts naturally have multiple lives, but some – and there are many – also regularly end up in the trash, significantly increasing the mountains of clothing that eventually pollute the environment. To respond to this problem, the Puma brand now presents a new recycling process consisting of: use old sweaters make new ones.
The sports equipment manufacturer did not wait until 2022 to envision such a process, but until then it had remained complicated, if not impossible, due to the presence of additional elements such as logos, club crests or even certain embroideries. Details that today take into account the new process adopted by the jumping cat brand called “RE:JERSEY”.
Jerseys made from 25% recycled plastic
In a press release, Puma explains that old football shirts are now the raw material for making brand new models. Because of this new process the old sweaters are first chemically broken down, then the colors are filtered, before the whole is reassembled – always chemical – to produce the yarn that will make the new football shirts. These new parts are made of 75% old shirtsand from 25% recycled plastic from the oceans.
“With the RE:JERSEY project, we wanted to develop ways to reduce our environmental impact, respect resources and reuse materials. With the knowledge gained, we can develop more circular products in the future.”
Howard Williams, Director of Apparel Technology at Puma
The first jerseys designed with this technology will be worn by players from the supplier’s partner clubs – Manchester City, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Olympique de Marseille – during pre-match warm-ups. Manchester City open the march for their match against Watford on April 23.
(ETX Daily Up)