#Sustainability

2019-09-19

Clothing made from recycled down and fabric made with polyester fibres from recycled plastic bottles

On the occasion of the LifeWear Day consumer exhibition taking place this year in London, Japanese global apparel retailer UNIQLO and Toray Industries today announce the joint development of down clothing employing reclaimed down and DRY-EX apparel incorporating fabric from polyester fibres made with recycled PET bottles. This new initiative, part of a longstanding strategic partnership between the two companies, will contribute to sustainability by giving consumers access to merchandise that optimises the use of valuable resources.

New Joint Initiative from UNIQLO and Toray Optimises use of Valuable Resources

Commenting on today’s announcement, Tadashi Yanai, UNIQLO Founder and Chairman, President & CEO of Fast Retailing, said, “UNIQLO is committed to improving the sustainability of society. To this end, we will soon begin our new initiative with Toray that promotes the use of recycled materials. Through such an important partnership, we can continue to offer high-performance, high-quality, and sustainable clothing to all customers around the world.”

Akihiro Nikkaku, President of Toray Industries, Inc., said, “At Toray we challenge ourselves to find solutions to global social issues with our belief that “materials can change our lives”. By promoting businesses that contribute to sustainability together with our strategic partner UNIQLO, we aim to create new value and realise a prosperous society through LifeWear.”

New items made from recycled down

UNIQLO stores will collect used Ultra Light Down items from customers. A new Toray-developed system will extract material from Ultra Light Down pieces, to be cleansed for use in new down merchandise. Collections* will start later in September this year initially only in Japan, and some down products from the 2020 Fall/Winter season will employ this recycled material.

Conventionally, the stuffing in duvets and other objects incorporating down is manually removed. Such processes are arduous with Ultra Light Down items because of their thin shells and complex construction. By developing special extraction machinery, Toray has fully automated cutting, stirring and separating, and recovery, for 50-fold the process capacity of manual processes, thus greatly alleviating workloads.

New DRY-EX pieces incorporating polyester from recycled PET bottles

DRY-EX is a revolutionary material that quickly wicks away sweat and moisture. From 2020 Spring/Summer UNIQLO will begin to introduce DRY-EX items of clothing that incorporate high-value-added polyester fibres derived from reclaimed PET bottles.

This is a milestone because, while fibres made from reclaimed plastic bottles have been commercially available for some time, it has been hard to produce fibres featuring special cross-sections and fine fibres, owing to contaminants in PET bottles. Another challenge to address has been that plastic bottles yellow as they age.

Toray’s contaminant filtering technology overcomes these issues, making it possible to manufacture fibres whose features are commensurate with those of fibres from plastic made directly from petrochemical feedstock, including those with special cross-sections. Another advance is Toray’s Recycling Identification System, which enhances reliability by ensuring that fibres derived from plastic bottles are traceable.

UNIQLO and Toray will keep leveraging their strengths to foster sustainable social progress.

*Such collections will differ from donations made at UNIQLO stores of lightly used clothing that is distributed to needy people around the world.

Toray Industries and MAS Holdings announce Joint Venture in Odisha, India

Toray Industries (H.K.) Ltd., has officially entered a joint venture with South Asia’s largest apparel manufacturer MAS Holdings, marking a unique opportunity to enhance the two companies’ supply chain capabilities and pursue product manufacturing within and for the fast-growing Indian market. The joint venture, operating under the name Toray MAS Apparel India, will see the establishment of a new manufacturing facility at the MAS Apparel Park Bhuinpur in Odisha, India, which is currently under development.

Toray and Honda start jointly validating chemical Nylon 6 recycling for automotive applications

Toray Industries, Inc., announced today it signed an agreement with Honda Motor Co., Ltd., to jointly develop a chemical recycling technology for glass-fiber reinforced nylon 6 parts recovered from end-of-life vehicles. The two have begun verifying this technology, which entails depolymerizing with subcritical water (see note) and regenerating the materials as caprolactam, a raw monomer.

VAUDE eliminates PFAS from all products

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are now detectable worldwide – in drinking water, soil and the human body. These so-called “forever chemicals” are considered hazardous to health and potentially carcinogenic, as they do not break down and remain in the environment permanently. Despite these risks, PFAS are still used in a wide range of products. More than 15 years ago, VAUDE made a strategic decision to gradually eliminate PFAS from all product categories.

OEKO-TEX® chooses TextileGenesis to advance digital traceability for organic cotton

OEKO-TEX® today announced a full collaboration with TextileGenesis, a Lectra company, to digitally trace and authenticate organic cotton, strengthening fraud prevention across the supply chain. This announcement follows a successful pilot and brings together OEKO-TEX®’s certification expertise and closed testing system with TextileGenesis’ digital traceability platform to deliver a secure, end-to-end solution for managing certified organic cotton flows.

ICAC to support European Commission on pending PEF legislation

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is proud to announce that it has been included as a member of the European Commission’s Technical Advisory Board (TAB) on the Product Environmental Footprint methodology. The Commission developed the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) to assess and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organizations.

ENDURANCE Program: Driving operational sustainability at Magnera

As Magnera enters a new year, the company is reflecting on a key sustainability milestone from 2025: the launch of ENDURANCE, its global, employee-led initiative focused on waste reduction and sustainable innovation. Launched on Earth Day 2025, this initiative has generated more than 250 improvement submissions from team members across Magnera’s global operations, demonstrating strong engagement and shared accountability for sustainability across the organization.

Perfect quality through collaboration: Machinery from Trützschler, Toyota and Murata at Zirve Tekstil

In today’s textile industry, excellence is not achieved by chance – it’s the result of deliberate decisions, technical expertise, and the courage to go beyond conventional paths. The Turkish company Zirve Tekstil has done just that: by combining the best technologies from Trützschler, Toyota and Murata, they’ve created a production setup that delivers outstanding yarn quality – recognized worldwide.

Engineering depth and diversity for composites

Airbond is the latest member of the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA) to receive recognition for contributions to the composites industry. The engineering firm based in Pontypool, South Wales, has just received the Make UK Energy and Sustainability Award for its Lattice 3D Printing project.

Award-winning research for sustainable carbon fibre cycles

Sustainable recycling of carbon fibres is possible through targeted electrochemical surface modification, which makes the sizing of carbon fibres resistant to solvolysis. ITA PhD student Sabina Dann was awarded the MSW Award from RWTH Aachen University for her master's thesis on this development. The award ceremony took place on 12 November 2025 in Aachen.