Unifi announces the winners of Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards

The winners of Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards are announced by Unifi Inc., which is an innovator and manufacturer of recycled and synthetic yarns.

Through this award brand, textile, and retail partners are recognized that have demonstrated their commitment to supporting a sustainable world. It’s the fourth year of these awards and a total of 93 companies are being recognized as Repreve Champions of Sustainability which is the highest in the program’s history.

This year, companies like H&M and Walmart have each transformed more than a half-billion bottles through their use of Repreve while Levi Strauss & Co. and VF Corp. have converted more than 200 million bottles separately.

The CEO of Unifi, Eddie Ingle said that Unifi remains successful because of its customers, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Their brand partners are demonstrating a steadfast commitment to sustainability with around a 20% increase in the number of winners from the previous year. During these unparalleled times, they want to thank the winners for their support for a more sustainable world.

Senior vice president of commercialization at Unifi, Jay Hertwig said that because of the pandemic there is an attention to the fact that sustainability and taking steps toward a greener tomorrow are more important than ever.

38 brand and retail partners who have transformed 10 million or more recycled plastic bottles and 55 textile partners who have transformed 50 million or more recycled plastic bottles through the use of Repreve performance fibers will be awarded Repeve Champions of Sustainability. Along with the 98 bottle-based awards, 3 special category award winners are also recognized by Unifi which are: Repreve Partners in Innovation, Repreve Leading the Change, and Repreve Newcomer.

Hertwig said that the most deserving candidate for the Newcomer Award is Odlo, the European performance apparel brand that has shown a commitment to sustainability by switching to Repreve within the last year. For their efforts to promote sustainability across clothing lines and stores, they chose Penti, a leading Turkish retailer as the recipient of the Repreve Leading the Change award. They hope that more brands and retailers are inspired by these awards and the program as a whole to expand their sustainability goals by choosing Repreve.

Aeropostale, Culp Home Fashions, Hanesbrands, Haworth, H&M, Inditex, J.C. Penney, Decathlon, Deckers, Ford, Gildan, Levi Strauss, Nike, Odlo, OKAIDI, Old Navy/Gap, Patagonia, Polartec, PVH, The North Face, Under Armour, VF, Walmart are among the few of brands which have won the Repreve Champions of Sustainability Brand & Retailer Bottle Awards.

MAS Fabrics, Shanghai Challenge Textile, Shuford Yarns LLC, Anhui Xintiansi, Antex Knitting, AYM Syntex Limited, Snyder Enterprises Inc., Milliken & Company, Nanjing Haixinlining, Nantong Dafuhao, Ningbo Huayao, Suzhou Yunmei, Swisstex Direct LLC, Apopa, Jiangyin Changjiang, Jiangyin Chulan, are among the few winning the Textile Partner Bottle Awards.