Patagonia unveils its first circular T-shirt

Outdoor ethical clothing brand, Patagonia, has unveiled its first circular T-shirt using discarded tees and cotton scraps.

Tee-Cycle shirts, which are produced from discarded t-shirts that were tees destined for the landfill, are a part of Patagonia’s commitment to developing a circular economy and are intended to help solve the textile waste problem.

There is no need to remove any new materials to create the cotton fabric used in the Tee-Cycle t-shirts, according to the company. Instead, we utilize the used t-shirts you bring us to generate Infinna fiber, blend it with cotton manufacturing waste, and create brand-new shirts that are made entirely of recycled materials.

The Fair Trade Certified T-shirts are made of 70% pre-consumer recycled cotton and 30% Infinna post-consumer recycled cotton, which, according to Patagonia, reduces waste in the textile industry and lowers carbon emissions when compared to using virgin cotton. Additionally, the screen-print inks are PVC- and phthalate-free.

The company said that to make this soft tee, they transformed discarded T-shirts into fabric that can be recycled into a new T-shirt at the end of its useful life. This T-shirt is part of our objective to develop a closed-loop process for apparel.

Every aspect of the launch contributes to Patagonia’s Take-Back initiative, in which upcycles used Patagonia T-shirts into the brand’s new Tee-Cycle line.

The scheme, which was introduced in the summer of 2021, enables the corporation to recycle its used cotton goods while assisting recycling networks for used clothing. The products are delivered to Infinited Fiber, a Finnish supply-chain partner of Patagonia, who turns the spent material from the tees into Infinna Fiber. The Tee-Cycle line is then created by combining them with industrial cotton leftovers.