Much of the recycled polyester used in fashion comes from used PET bottles. PET is the same polymer family as polyester fibre.
The main steps
- Collection and sorting: bottles are collected, sorted by type and colour.
- Cleaning: labels and caps are removed and bottles are washed.
- Flaking: bottles are shredded into small flakes.
- Melting and extrusion: flakes are melted and pushed through spinnerets to make filament or staple fibre.
- Yarn and fabric: fibre is spun or textured into yarn, then knitted or woven.
Performance
Recycled polyester can perform much like virgin polyester for most fashion fabrics.
Proving the claim
Recycled content should be backed by GRS or RCS certification through the supply chain.
We use recycled polyester yarn from Alliance. Read about virgin vs recycled polyester.