Samsara Eco, an Australian enviro-tech startup, has partnered with active wear giant Lululemon to debut the world's first enzymatically recycled nylon 6-6 product.
The product uses recycled nylon 6-6 and Samsara’s technology to create Lululemon samples of the company’s Swiftly Tech long-sleeve top. It’s the first time the type of nylon has been recycled in this way, according to the companies.
The debut of the product comes as many textile and fashion companies are focusing on recyclable and sustainable materials. The fashion industry makes up roughly 10% of all global carbon emissions, while 85% of textiles end up in landfills, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Last month, global specialty materials and chemical company Celanese Corporation and athletic apparel brand Under Armour collaborated to develop a new performance fiber using recycled elastane fibers.
Champion, another activewear brand, introduced a new textile technology collection late last year that aims to reduce microplastic pollution from synthetic materials, while Nike has debuted several innovations, including most recently launching a recyclable shoe that doesn’t use glue.
Nylon 6-6 is one of the most commonly used plastics in the textile industry, with roughly 4 million tons of nylon 6-6 created every year. It is known to be difficult to recycle because of its tough, heavy-duty properties. Samsara has developed a new, patent-pending technology that extracts nylon 6,6 from end-of-life stage textiles.
“Until now, textile-to-textile nylon 6-6 has been unrecyclable,” said Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara Eco. “The samples we have created with Lululemon represent a world-first breakthrough for the future of textile waste. Our work with Lululemon shows the potential to give clothes an infinite life.”
Samsara Eco’s manufacturing process can be completed within hours and at a low temperature to create a product that is more sustainable. The first sample demonstrates how the tech could be used to recycle and create new activewear products. The Swiftly Top in the samples use more than 90% nylon produced using Samsara’s enzymatic recycling process.
“Compared to the production of virgin nylon 6-6, Samsara Eco’s infinite recycling process reduces emissions and has the potential to save tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 entering our environment every year,” Riley said. “We’ve started with nylon 6,6, but this sets the trajectory of what’s possible for recycling across a range of industries as we continue expanding our library of plastic-eating enzymes.”
