Polyester is our second most used material at JACK & JONES. It is one reason why our clothes are good for working out, going out, hanging out and pretty much everything else we get up to. So, finding lower impact ways to use it is an important part of our A BETTER WORLD commitment.
Our Recycled Puffer Jacket and Vest are a prototype for how we think polyester can fit into better products. 100% of the polyester in them is made from recycled PET bottles, from the outer fabric and the lining right through to the padding, the care label, the thread and the zipper.
About 22 bottles are used for the jacket, and 16 for the vest. Recycling bottles into polyester fabric, padding and zippers instead of making new polyester from non-renewable resources reduce greenhouse gas emissions and drives down water consumption too. Plus, it diverts plastic bottles from landfill and keeps them out of our oceans. By making all elements of a garment from the same material in this way, we can recycle and reuse the polyester in them once they inevitably get worn out.
SOURCING OUR RECYCLED POLYESTER RIGHT
Our recycled polyester is third party certified. These certifications verify
their recycled content and cracks down on chemicals and processing methods too.
It is not always easy to find recycled polyester that passes our quality test, and we sought out each element of our puffer jackets individually. We used Unifi’s REPREVE® for the padding and when we could not find what we wanted on the market for the lining, we worked hands on with our supplier BC-TEX to develop new fabric. About 5% of the plastic bottles used in our BC-TEX lining is recovered from coastal waters in Fuzhou and Quanzhou, which are close to their manufacturing base in China.
The only thing in the jacket that is not made from recycled bottles is that tiny little bit of metal that you use to pull the zipper shut, which is recycled metal.
50% RECYCLED POLYESTER BY 2025
As part of our Better Materials commitment, we have been working to make the linings of all our outerwear from recycled polyester by 2022. And from our Autumn/Winter collection 2023 on we will produce all new jackets with recycled lining and padding. And by 2025, we will have switched 50% of all the polyester we use across our collections to the recycled materials.
Phasing out new polyester completely will take a team, so we are focusing our efforts on collaboration and innovation. That is why we are building ongoing partnerships with sustainability driven textile brands, like Unifi’s REPREVE®. Together, we are on a journey designing out waste and setting up the systems we need for a more sustainable tomorrow.
