Unifi's two new product offerings – Repreve filament yarn and ThermaLoop, make a part of its circular material range, which it boasts to be the largest portfolio of regenerated performance polyester worldwide.
The company emphasised that this commercial scalability tackles a key challenge for polyester-reliant industries, particularly fashion brands, which have long sought to create circular apparel to meet sustainability goals.
ThermaLoop, a white-dyeable filament yarn, is made from 100% recycled polyester feedstock, with at least 50% textile waste, making the new products of virgin-quality standards.
It is available in down-like fibre, fiberball, and padding, and offers performance, recovery, and thermal efficiency. Unifi highlighted that the padding is engineered with Repreve's "low melt fibre," an innovation that enables the production of 100% recycled synthetic padding.
Meanwhile, the new circular Repreve filament yarn is described as a white, dyeable, high-performance polyester, designed for the most critical applications, with widespread versatility across industries, applications, and colourways.
Both Repreve filament yarn and ThermaLoop are traceable with FiberPrint technology and certified by U-Trust, as well as being Oeko-Tex, GRS, and SCS certified for recycled content.
Unifi further explained that the two new materials are powered by the company's propriety Textile Takeback process, representing a major leap forward in scalable textile-to-textile recycling.
The Textile Takeback process recycles both global post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste into next-generation materials using proprietary technologies.
Unifi shared that it will also partner with global brands to take back their waste and keep materials in circulation longer to further enhance value throughout the supply chain.
It is pointed out that ThermaLoop’s launch in black insulation showcases the wide variety of textile waste that can be utilised as feedstock, reinforcing the company's 'waste nothing' philosophy.
Eddie Ingle, CEO of Unifi Inc, believes that polyester is the most widely utilised fibre on the planet, and it’s time for transformative change.
Ingle said: "Textile brands can now create solutions with the entire product life cycle in mind and work towards achieving their 2030 environmentally preferred materials targets. Our goal is to provide the best-in-class sustainable products that eliminate the need for virgin materials and reduce carbon emissions."
The two new products are available globally now, and as Unifi claims it can be integrated seamlessly into existing supply chains, without disruption.
These products, set to debut at the Intertextile Apparel Fabrics Shanghai trade show from 27-29 August, also underpin Unifi's goal to recycle 1.5 billion t-shirts' worth of textile waste by fiscal year 2030.
In July, a peer-reviewed lifecycle assessment (LCA) published by Unifi suggested its recycled performance fibre Repreve can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% when compared to relative virgin staple fibre.
