rEvolution Hybrid: Sympatex Technologies introduces world’s first functional jacket made from recycled textiles during ISPO 2020
This sustainable functional jacket is the latest product to evolve from the wear2wear™ European industry partnership, which has grown through numerous innovative technology and system partnerships since its inception in 2017. The joint objective of the partnership is to quickly close the textile loop.
The Sympatex commitment: we intend on closing the textile loop
Fortunately, the issue of sustainability has been discussed more fervently in our industry for several years now and is meanwhile being taken very seriously. Despite all of our efforts, we are still part of the world’s second “dirtiest” industry and have yet to discover adequate solutions for many of our self-made environmental problems. By quickly moving toward a closed textile loop, we are nonetheless in a position to confront the core problems: excessive waste caused by used textiles, the intensified use of chemicals and immense water contamination, as well as the large part played by the textile industry in causing climate change.
Several years ago, Sympatex began to chart a new course with a commitment to closing the textile loop for functional materials as quickly as possible as part of its “Agenda 2020”, which was announced in January 2017. We subsequently followed up by setting the bar for sustainability at the highest level in May 2019 by making public our intention to offer the first laminates made completely from closed-loop textiles as soon as the year 2020.
In conjunction with the 2020 ISPO, Sympatex will now be introducing the latest development to arise from this ambitious goal: rEvolution Hybrid – the world’s first upcycled functional jacket made from 30 percent recycled used textiles and 70 percent recycled PET bottles. This jacket is the most recent result of the wear2wearTM European industry partnership with the aim of working together to close the textile loop. The 3-layer high-performance jacket was developed and produced in cooperation with the wear2wear™ consortium.
“We consciously chose the name rEvolution Hybrid because the name speaks for itself. The latest product to originate from the wear2wear™ partnership is revolutionizing the functional textile market and stands for sustainable, responsible apparel,” explains Dr. Rüdiger Fox, CEO at Sympatex Technologies. “No one has gone this far in our industry so far. We are gradually leaving the era of PET bottles behind us and focusing all of our activities on completely and rapidly closing the textile loop with used apparel. Only by working hard to continue to expand these technologies, will we be in a position to get the growing mountains of textile waste under control,” adds Fox.
Case Study on the leakage of microplastic into the environment backs “closing the loop” approach. At nearly the same time, attention is being drawn to new research results and a case study from the Plastic Leak Project, an initiative involving the consulting firms Quantis and EA, which Sympatex joined in early 2019. Among other things, the study shows a clear example of microplastic seepage along the entire value chain of a functional jacket.
Using the example of triple-layer hardshell jacket with outer and inner lining materials from 100 percent polyester, the study relied on a mass balance approach to analyze the uncontrolled release of plastic during the entire life cycle of a functional jacket, from manufacture of the raw material, lamination and production, transport of the jacket to the destined location, and wearing and washing, to final disposal in the so-called “end of life” stage.
