Australian activewear brand Lululemon has signed a 10-year offtake agreement to source recycled raw materials with Australian textile recycler Samsara Eco.
This multi-year agreement has the potential to see Samsara Eco’s materials support approximately 20 per cent of Lululemon’s overall fibres portfolio and advance its progress towards making more products with preferred materials by 2030.
Lululemon’s latest announcement follows a long-running collaboration between the two entities. Last year, the activewear brand and Samsara brought to market the world’s first enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 product sample, as well as introduced Lululemon’s first enzymatically recycled polyester product to market with a limited-edition Packable Anorak.
“Scaling circular materials requires bold partnerships and a shared commitment to rethinking how our industry operates,” Lululemon chief supply chain officer Ted Dagnese said. “Our partnership with Samsara Eco is a powerful example of what’s possible when innovation meets collaboration.
“As we work toward our 2030 impact goals, we’re taking a diversified approach – investing in multiple partnerships to advance solutions and help reduce our reliance on fossil-fuel derived resources. Together with our partners, including Samsara Eco, we’re helping to turn our vision of a circular model into a reality.”
According to the brand’s latest Impact Report for the 2023 period, Lululemon’s key fibres include polyester and nylon, at 33 per cent and 31 per cent respectively in terms of percentage by weight across all Lululemon products. Cotton came third at 19 per cent, with ‘other’ such as elastane at 10 per cent. Six per cent of its products then were regenerated cellulosics, with 1 per cent being animal derived and less than 1 per cent being natural rubber.
This rundown on materials use is set to change with the Samsara deal, with recycled polyester making up 61 per cent of polyester materials in 2023, and responsibly sourced cotton at 46 per cent of total cotton intake, both rising from a baseline in 2020 of 36 per cent respectively.
Polyester and nylon are two widely used fibres in textiles, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of the world’s total fibres production. As well as its nylon recycling, Samsara Eco also recycles polyester, including mixed plastics and fibres, with its engineered enzymes, which break down plastic into its original building blocks which can then be repurposed into existing manufacturing processes to make new products.
“Our expanded partnership with Lululemon represents a strong step forward to help create a fully circular ecosystem and further highlights the industry’s commitment to transition to more circular materials,” Samsara Eco founder and CEO Paul Riley said.
“The technology to make circular materials is not a pipe dream – it is here, ready for adoption by forward-thinking companies. I’m incredibly optimistic about how we will help fuel circular apparel over the next decade with Lululemon.”
To support commercialisation efforts, Samsara Eco will soon open a new plant in Jerrabomberra, New South Wales. This facility will increase production volumes and advance its engineered enzyme technology, EosEco™.
Additionally, Samsara Eco will be opening an international commercial facility in 2028.