Lululemon partners with Samsara Eco to develop infinitely recyclable textiles

Samsara Eco, a Canberra-based enviro-tech startup, has announced a partnership with Lululemon to create the first infinitely recyclable polyester and nylon in the world. They will utilize the clothing waste and Samsara Eco’s ‘plastic-eating’ enzyme technology.
The founder and CEO stated that both companies have done several tests and are optimistic about releasing the product in stores in the coming year. “Given less than 1 per cent of fashion is fibre-to-fibre recycled, we think that this can be a game-changer,” Riley said.

“Until now, there’s been no method of recycling it,” Mr Riley said. This is where Lululemon comes in. The partnership with Lululemon has allowed Samsara to expand its library of enzymes to include nylon 66 and polyester. Nylon and polyester are extremely resilient and versatile. This is a benefit as well as a challenge because then, it cannot be broken down easily and is also difficult to recycle.

Mr. Riley responded that Samsara Eco is “definitely open to textiles from other sources” when asked if the cooperation will only concentrate on recycling Lululemon clothing. A “whole raft of waste in the supply chain,” such as “used clothing, post-industrial, or post-consumer waste,” can be employed due to the nature of the enzyme process. Although this is Samsara’s first collaboration with a clothing producer, there are hopes that the company can continue to break through into the mainstream fashion sector in the future as well as collaborate with partners in other industries as it works to achieve its objective of recycling 1.5 million tons of textiles by 2030.

“We’re proud that this partnership is disrupting the apparel industry. The ability to infinitely recycle textiles, including nylon, is an essential solution to tackle the enormous challenge of textile waste in the apparel industry,” Mr Riley said.

Samsara is also open to working with offshore partners to increase its operations. However, Mr. Riley believes that the company is Canberran at its core and ANU is the “heart and soul of the team”. The company has a factory that produces monomers for the Lululemon project in Mitchell and plans to open a new location in Jerrabomberra by early next year.
Due to Lululemon’s size, Samsara is also “scoping larger facilities”. According to Mr. Riley, Lululemon’s investment in the project will assist in increasing market share.