PUMA is treating sustainability as sport, insofar as the sportswear giant is incorporating eco-conscious fabrication into its football jerseys. It’s all part of PUMA’s RE:FIBRE process, which is amping up for the 2024/2025 season.
The benefits of RE:FIBRE are myriad. For instance, PUMA is cutting down on the dependency on plastic bottles innate to the creation of polyester garments, like sweat-wicking sport clothes.
This is achieved by incorporating “a minimum of 75% recycled textile waste and other waste material” into RE:FIBRE products, ensuring that PUMA’s recycled products use as little virgin textile as possible.
Part of launching the most recent expansion of RE:FIBRE encompassed a pop-up event overseen in partnership with upcycler Andrew Burgess, a member of PUMA’s Voice of a RE:Generation program.
In late July, Burgess lead a weekend of workshops demonstrating dual elements of PUMA’s RE:FIBRE process.
First, 100 badges created by Burgess utilizing game-worn jerseys from Manchester United’s Jack Grealish and AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic were offered in PUMA’s flagship New York store.
And, second, Burgess hosted three workshops schooling attendees in the finer points of extending garments’ lifespan through techniques like transformative patchwork.
All in the name of emphasizing the benefits of fashion recycling in the vein of RE:FIBRE.
“RE:FIBRE gives football fans a tangible example of how PUMA is working towards creating a Forever Better,” explained Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA. “Our wish is to have 100% of our polyester products created from textile waste. Rethinking how we produce and moving towards a more circular business model is important and RE: FIBRE is central to that.”