Recycled tyres in the fibre mix for trekking pants in Vaude-BASF tie-up
Outdoor brand Vaude is working with chemicals manufacturer BASF to use polyamides from recycled tyres to make a range of trousers that will be suitable for trekking and other activities.
It will take a year for the garments to become available in stores, but work is ongoing. The trekking trousers will be made from material that the companies have described as “robust and simple to repair”.
They are using polyamides from chemically recycled scrap tyres, reducing waste and lowering the use of non-renewable raw materials.
BASF has called the new material Ultramid Ccycled, a polyamide 6 fibre. To make it, BASF feeds pyrolysis oil from old tyres to replace some of the fossil fuel-based resources usually required to make the fibre. It says Ccycled fibres will have “exactly the same properties” as their equivalents made from petroleum-based raw materials and customers will be able to process them in the same manner.
Innovation manager at Vaude, René Bethmann, said the brand’s aim is to be a pioneer in building up a circular economy for functional clothing. Mr Bethmann said that, according to Vaude’s calculations, the carbon footprint of the new trousers will be less than half that of comparable products made in a more conventional way.
