Some 400,000 college students will accept diplomas this year while wearing gowns made entirely of plastic bottles.
It’s not a joke or a gimmick. It’s a statement on how to keep trash out of landfills, said Jay Hertwig, VP of global branding for textile maker Unifi. Unifi, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, produces 300 million pounds of polyester and nylon yarn annually. “As a manufacturer, we asked ourselves what we could do to be more innovative and a socially responsible company,” said Hertwig.
Repreve was the answer. It’s the firm’s flagship fiber brand made from recycled materials.
Unifi’s Repreve recycling center is a 50,000 square foot facility in Yadkinville, North Carolina, where plastic bottles, fiber waste and fabric scraps get deposited. The company collects clear plastic bottles from processors around the country who first shred them into plastic flakes. “We purchase these plastic flakes and convert them into small pellets,” said Hertwig. The pellets are then melted, extruded and spun into polyester yarn.
Repreve makes three types of recycled yarn: 100% from used plastic bottles, a hybrid of plastic bottles and fiber waste, and a hybrid of plastic bottles and used fabric. Since the brand launched in 2009, Hertwig said production has increased about 20% every year. Repreve yarn is used to make everything from jackets and T-shirts to dress pants and even car upholstery. It’s used in brands like Patagonia, The North Face, Levi’s, Adidas,聽Nike聽and Ford. Another customer is Oak Hall Cap & Gown, which makes graduation gowns from the 100% Repreve yarn spun from plastic bottles. It takes 27 used bottles to make one gown, Hertwig said.
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