Polartec and Unifi help Norrøna launch its first garment from PET bottles
13/09/2012
The jackets, which Norrøna has called /29 warm4 up-cycled Jackets, are made Polartec’s Wind Pro fleece fabric, the raw material for which is REPREVE 100 yarn from Unifi. Polartec has said it now uses REPREVE 100 yarn from Unifi for over 50% of its domestic production.
The REPREVE yarn was made from recycled bottles collected in Norrøna's home country, Norway, in collaboration with waste management firms Tomra and Norsk Resirk. About 40 plastic bottles were used to make each jacket. By using PET bottles instead of crude oil in production, Norrøna has said it feels it is taking a step in the right direction towards reducing the carbon footprint of its products. It takes approximately 2 kilos of crude oil to produce 1 kilo of raw material in the traditional process.
In terms of effectiveness, Polartec says Wind Pro fabric features a high loft interior, whic provides increased warmth without weight. Wind Pro is four times more wind-resistant than traditional fleece, highly breathable, durable, and water repellent, making the /29 warm4 up-cycled Jacket a versatile product for the whole year.
“We are now launching our first sports garment made exclusively from returned bottles,” says Norrøna owner and chief executive Jørgen Jørgensen. “The goal is to recycle up the value chain, so that bottles can be turned into advanced sportswear.”
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