Germany’s Puma trials garment-to-garment recycling for sustainability

Sports company, Puma, is set to pilot an innovative production process to use existing football jerseys to produce new ones. This initiative is aimed at reducing waste and paving the way towards more circular production models in the future. The RE:JERSEY project by the German-based firm takes football kits as the ingredient to create yarn for new jerseys.

The process used in RE:JERSEY means that old garments that feature logos, embroideries and club badges, which previously hindered recycling efforts to turn old garments into new ones, can now be used. In the recycling process used for the RE:JERSEY project, the garments are chemically broken down into their main components (depolymerisation). Colours are then filtered out and the material is chemically put back together to create a yarn (repolymerisation) that has the same performance characteristics as virgin polyester, Puma said in a press release.

While Puma’s football kits on the market today are already made from 100% recycled polyester, RE:JERSEY kits are made with 75% repurposed football jerseys. The remaining 25% comes from Seaqual Marine Plastic. The products made in the RE:JERSEY project will be worn on-pitch during pre-match warm-ups by Puma Clubs Manchester City, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Olympique de Marseille. The teams will wear the jerseys ahead of their respective league fixtures in late April and May, starting with Manchester City against Watford on April 23.

The RE:JERSEY pilot experiment is part of Puma’s Circular Lab and its Forever Better sustainability platform. As part of Circular Lab, Puma announced the RE:SUEDE program last year, which tests, whether the company can make a biodegradable version of its iconic SUEDE sneaker.

“With the RE:JERSEY project, we wanted to develop ways to reduce our environmental impact, respect resources and reuse materials. The insights we gained with RE:JERSEY will help us develop more circular products in the future,” Howard Williams, director apparel technology at Puma, said in a statement.