Patagonia has partnered with Teijin to launch the Common Threads Recycling Program at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. This revolutionary program asks Patagonia customers to return their worn-out Capilene baselayers to Patagonia, to be recycled into new garments. Worn-out Capilene baselayers will feed Patagonia's own supply chain to make new Capilene in future seasons. With the launch of this recycling program, Patagonia becomes one of the first global companies in the world to launch a garment take-back recycling program.
Research shows that the environmental impact of using worn-out Capilene baselayers to make new polyester fiber is significantly lower than making that same fiber from virgin materials. Via the Common Threads Recycling Program, worn-out garments are diverted from trash incinerators. Making new polyester fiber from used garments, that have been mailed from customers to Patagonia, results in an energy savings of 76 percent and a CO2 emissions [greenhouse gasses] reduction of 71 percent, versus creating that fiber from new raw material.
“Our goal is to take responsibility for every product we make. This includes responsibility for the fibers a garment is made of, as well as what happens to a product at the at the end of its useful life. Garment recycling is simply our first step towards a truly environmentally sound process, ” explained Michael Crooke, president and CEO of Patagonia.
“We recognize that everything we make pollutes – and most of it eventually ends up in landfills. Moving forward, with our customers' help, the 1.3 million Capilene pieces we sell each year will potentially live on in perpetuity.”
Effective September 12, 2005, customers may return used Capilene baselayers to Patagonia, via mail or at any of the 20 Patagonia retail stores nationwide. These worn-out baselayers will then be transported via container ships (which usually travel back to Asia empty) to Teijin's recycling facilities in Japan. There they will be broken down and made into new Capilene garments using Teijin's EcoCircle(tm) fiber-to-fiber recycling system. With EcoCircle, worn-out polyester garments are recycled into virgin-quality fibers by breaking down the fabric to the molecular level and creating new polyester raw material. Beginning in Spring 2007, Patagonia's Capilene baselayers will be made with more than 50% recycled content, using garments collected from customers.
“It was critical for us to find a partner who could help us keep our product out of the landfill at the end of its useful life. With Teijin's help, we'll feed our own supply chain with used Capilene baselayers rather than relying solely on scarce virgin resources like petroleum,” said Crooke. “It's our hope that many other companies will recognize the value of garment recycling and take advantage of this revolutionary system.”
“EcoCircle is a perfect example Teijin's commitment to developing technologies that are friendly to people and the environment,” said Yoshinaga Karasawa, senior managing director and chief marketing officer of Teijin. “We are very pleased that Patagonia will be the first company to use the EcoCircle recycling system in the U.S., and we hope that other companies will follow Patagonia's lead and participate in this innovative system.”
