Nike inks deals for circular polyester to use in its main collections
Nike just inked back-to-back deals for future supplies of circular polyester in its mainstream athletic wear. The Beaverton, Oregon, brand is betting that it can make good use of polyester recycled from castoff fabrics in more than pilot programs and one-off collections.
On Nov. 10, Nike shared plans to become the “anchor” customer for recycled-textile polyester resin from Loop Industries of Quebec. The next day, Swedish recycling startup Syre announced that it will become the “lead strategic supplier” of circular polyester for Nike.
The partnerships reflect a vote of confidence in emerging textile-to-textile recycling technologies, a crowded space that is seeing fierce competition and, recently, a steady series of brand contracts.
Nevertheless, the companies providing the material don’t yet have operational plants. In fact, the site for Syre’s factory in Vietnam has not yet been announced. Loop Industries’ facility in a petrochemicals investment region of India is scheduled to open in 2027.
“Our partnership with Syre represents a shift in our materials strategy and how we source,” said Sitora Muzafarova, vice president of materials supply chain, in a release. “Innovation is at the heart of Nike’s DNA, and textile-to-textile recycled polyester is essential in our ambition to design and produce breakthrough products that both perform to the highest standards that our athletes expect and are more sustainable at the same time.”
Materials and emissions goals
Nike has science-based targets for 2030 to slash Scopes 1 and 2 emissions by 65 percent and Scope 3 by 30 percent, all relative to a 2015 baseline. Lessening the impacts of polyester, Nike’s staple material, is important for reducing its carbon footprint, 34 percent of which came from raw materials in 2024. The company used 183,619 metric tons of polyester by volume last year, two thirds recycled.
The sneaker colossus reached 48 percent “environmentally preferred” materials last year, closing in on a goal of 50 percent for 2025. That would deliver half a million metric tons of Scope 3 emissions reductions. Recycled polyester is among those materials, as is cotton that’s organic, recycled or certified to third-party standards.
The latest deals mark a diversification of suppliers and a gradual shift away from beverage bottles as a polyester source. Nike has kept 3 billion plastic bottles out of the environment by purchasing bottle-to-textile-recycled Repreve material, according to producer UNIFI of North Carolina.
Nike was an early adopter of recycled polyester when waste-bottle sources were in vogue. At the Sydney Olympics 25 years ago, it featured the Stand-Off singlet, a textured shirt of single-material recycled polyester. Ten years ago, Nike said it was the industry’s top user of recycled polyester, with non-virgin content in 39 percent of its garments.
The tech
Syre and Loop Industries each use chemical recycling to break apart long-chain polyester molecules, which are later rebuilt into pellets that are spun into polyester yarn.
Syre has taken the approach of planning a global network of recycling plants for resin or yarn, and de-risking by signing major offtake agreements with brands. In an analysis undertaken with McKinsey, Syre projected that it can provide 3 percent of the future market for recycled polyester.
The company formed in early 2024 in a joint partnership with H&M Group, which agreed to purchase $600 million of its recycled material over seven years. In June, Syre signed up Gap, Houdini and Target as “launch partners.”
”This is not a one-off initiative or capsule collection; this is a moment when circular materials move from concept to commercial reality at scale and wider adoption,” Syre CEO Dennis Nobelius said of the Nike deal, expressing the desire for circularity to become “the new normal.”
Loop Industries creates Twist resin that’s meant to drop into existing manufacturing processes. The company says its Infinite Loop technology turns mixed polyester waste into virgin-quality material. Nike would obtain materials from a facility Loop is planning with Ester Industries. The output would offer an 81 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions compared with virgin polyester.
Loop, which has been NASDAQ listed since 2015, also has agreements to provide recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging resin for L’Oréal and Danone. Branching further into fashion, it has recently collaborated with yarn experts Hyosung TNC of South Korea and Shinkong Synthetic Fibers of Taiwan.
The next-gen material space is progressing in fits and starts, with polyester recyclers appearing to make more progress than those brokering in natural fibers.
For example, REI of Sumner, Washington, signed an offtake agreement on Oct. 28 to purchase Cycora, the textile-to-textile material created by Los Angeles startup Ambercycle. The Danville, Virginia, company Circ is unique for creating both synthetic and cellulose-based output from recycling mixed polyester-cotton waste. On Oct. 14, it announced a collaboration with H&M and fiber giant Lenzing Group.
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