On, Patagonia, Puma and Salomon link with Carbios to enhance product circularity

Carbios has revealed it has signed a consortium agreement with On, Patagonia, Puma and Salomon which will see the apparel companies collaborate on enhancing the recyclability and circularity of their products.

As part of the two-year deal, each of the companies have agreed to speed up the introduction of Carbios’ bio recycling technology. Additionally, the partnership will involve co-researching how products can be recycled, with the goal of developing solutions to take back worn polyester clothing, and gathering data on fibre-to-fibre recycling.

“This Consortium model has proved to be very efficient based on the success of the milestones previously achieved in packaging,” said Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios, in a release.

Ladent continued: “We are very pleased to partner with these prestigious brands. Our common goal is to contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the textile industry by offering an industrial solution to recycle polyester fibres and help our partners to meet their sustainable development goals.”

According to Carbios, a future challenge to be potentially faced in the fashion industry is the shortage of PET bottles – which will be used for circular production in other industries – something the recycling firm relies on for its production process.

Carbios extracts the PET polyester from textile waste through the use of enzymes, using the resulting fibres to make new products.

On’s senior sustainability manager, Adrianne Gilbride, also commented on the formation of the consortium, furthering the sportswear company’s goal to become fully circular before the end of the decade.

Gilbride added: “Our partnership with Carbios and the other consortium members is an important step towards enabling the industry to game-changing circular technologies at scale. Fibre-to-fibre recycling is a key building block in closing the loop within the textile and footwear industry".