Lululemon establishes partnership with textile recycling startup, Samsara Eco
©Lululemon
Sportswear company Lululemon has announced a new multi-year collaboration with textile-to-textile recycling firm, Samsara Eco, as it looks to scale its circularity practices. Through the partnership, Lululemon aims to make infinitely recycled nylon and polyester from its own products using the startup’s circular process. They aim to create new recycled nylon – one of fashion industries’ most commonly used materials - and polyester from apparel waste.
Developed alongside the Australian National University (ANU), Samsara’s technology works by using enzymes to break down plastic (polymer) into its original building blocks – monomers – which can then be used to infinitely recreate brand new plastic.
Samsara Eco's ability to infinitely recycle blended textiles, including nylon, provides an important solution to tackle the challenge of textile waste. The partnership builds on Lululemon’s ‘Be Planet’ goals, in which it is aiming to create a circular ecosystem by 2030, largely led by the implementation of sustainable materials, shopping experiences like its re-commerce programme and textile-to-textile recycling.
Lululemon Raw Materials Innovation vice president Yogendra Dandapure told TechCrunch that Samsara Eco’s enzymatic recycling process will enable the company to move toward recycling end-of-life products to create new apparel, over and over again. The company’s Be Planet goal is to make 100% of its products with sustainable products and end-of-use solutions, moving toward a circular ecosystem, by 2030.
Other Lululemon initiatives include products made from renewably sourced, plant-based nylon, which launched in April in partnership with Geno, and Lululemon’s Like New program, which sells previously owned clothing.
