Polartec, Norrona partner with REPREVE to create first-of-its-kind 100% recycled garment

Polartec partner brand Norrona announces the release of the 100-percent recycled men's and women's /29 warm4 up-cycled Jackets, built of Polartec Wind Pro fleece made entirely of REPREVE 100 yarn. Polartec uses REPREVE 100 yarn from Unifi for over 50-percent of its domestic production.

The REPREVE yarn was made from recycled bottles collected in Norrona's home country, Norway, in collaboration with Tomra and Norsk Resirk. About 40 plastic bottles were used to make each /29 warm4 up-cycled Jacket. By using PET bottles instead of the traditional use of crude oil in production, Norrona takes a step in the right direction towards reducing the carbon footprint of the /29 warm4 up-cycled Jacket. It takes approximately 2 kg crude oil to produce 1 kg of raw material in the traditional process.

The particular recycled Polartec Wind Pro fabric features a high loft interior, providing increased warmth without weight. Polartec Wind Pro is four times more wind resistant than traditional fleece, highly breathable, durable, and water repellent, making the /29 warm4 up-cycled Jacket a very versatile product for the whole year.

"We are now launching our first sports garment made exclusively from returned bottles," says Norrona owner and chief executive Jorgen Jorgensen. "The goal is to recycle up the value chain, so that bottles can be turned into advanced sportswear."

"For a long time, a fairly low proportion of recycled material was used; as little as 10 percent, says Chuck Haryslak of Polartec. "But after a while we were able to add more and more and can now make a fabric without adding fresh polyester and without a loss of quality."

"When Norrona brought this idea to us, we were very excited about the opportunity to prove out the concept that we can provide our customers with custom recycling solutions," said Mark McNeill, product development manager for Unifi."With our unique capabilities at the REPREVE Recycling Center, we were able to offer Norrona a REPREVE based product made from bottles collected in their country with performance equal to virgin."