Puma has launched a sustainability project in which material for new yarn is obtained from old football shirts.
The initiative is intended to reduce textile waste and pave the way for circular production models, the Herzogenaurach sporting goods supplier announced on Wednesday. Previously, recycling football shirts was more difficult due to logos, embroidery and club badges. The new procedure of the Re:jersey initiative aims to change that.
In the recycling process, the jerseys are developed back into their original components. After the colors are filtered out, the recovered material is chemically spun into a yarn that is then used to make new jerseys. According to the company, the properties of the yarn are similar to those of conventional polyester.
“With the Re:jersey project, we wanted to find ways to reduce our environmental impact, conserve resources and reuse materials,” said Howard Williams, Puma’s director of apparel technology help us create more circular products in the future.”
Re:jersey products are made from 75 percent post-consumer football shirts and the remaining 25 percent is made from Seaqual Marine Plastic, a material made by the NGO Seaqual from plastic waste salvaged from the world’s oceans and beaches .
The Re:jersey kits will be worn by players from various football clubs including Manchester City, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund as on-pitch warm-up kits, starting with Manchester City ahead of their match against Watford on April 23.