Germany-based BASF and Spain-based fashion brand Inditex have announced the launch
of loopamid®, a recycled nylon 6 (polyamid 6 or PA6) comprised of 100-percent textile waste. BASF has devised a circular solution for nylon apparel that permits blends of post-industrial and post-consumer waste — such as nylon and elastane — to be recycled in a textile-to-textile process over multiple cycles. According to BASF, the properties of the resulting nylon are identical to those of virgin nylon.
Inditex brand Zara has introduced a 100-percent loopamid jacket featuring loopamid in all components — including the fabric, buttons, filling, hooks and loops, and zipper. To make this happen, Zara partnered with other companies — including RadiciGroup, Velcro,YKK, Gütermann and Freudenberg, among other companies — to integrate loopamid into the garment components.
“BASF has reached an important milestone towards circularity in the fashion industry and pioneered an approach to close the loop for nylon textiles,” said Dr. Ramkumar Dhruva, president of BASF’s Monomers division.“ …We are in the process of scaling up our technology to serve our customers with commercial quantities. The capsule jacket together with Inditex is the proof that circularity is possible, and we are eager to further drive the sustainable transformation of the textile industry.”
“This collaboration is a great example of how, by collaborating all together, we can use the new technology to transform textile waste into a new resource,” said Javier Losada, Inditex’s chief sustainability officer. “This project is also a first step to move towards a circular solution, as the industry still needs to boost new collecting and recycling capacities in order to close the loop and scale recycling for post-consumer waste.”
January/February 2024
