New Delhi, April 21, 2023: Adidas has announced a new milestone in its journey towards replacing virgin polyester with recycled polyester ahead of Earth Day 2023. 96% of all polyester used in adidas products is now recycled polyester. The goal to replace all virgin polyester with recycled wherever possible by the end of 2024 was first set by adidas in 2017. With the recent announcement, adidas is well on track to achieve the goal earlier than expected.
The brand has been working towards reducing its dependency on virgin polyester since they made their first high-performance shoe with recycled materials in 2015. It was announced last year that in 2021, more than 90% of the polyester used in adidas products was recycled. If this had been virgin polyester, it would have accounted for 3,90,000 metric tons of CO2e which was equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions generated to provide power to 50 thousand homes in the US. As per Textile Exchange, global recycled polyester fiber production volume increased in 2021, but still accounts for just 14.8% of all global polyester production.
The road to this achievement was obviously a challenging one for the team at adidas,. The confirmation of its polyester commitment in 2017 was a crucial step in helping to initiate a transformation across adidas and its entire supply chain. This transformation was made possible through creating technical solutions and imagining new possibilities that previously didn’t exist.
To accompany the announcement, adidas created a short film about its new ‘PB’, featuring star athlete Jazmin Sawyers. The film highlights the sports brand’s pride in making progress and its determination to push further. The brand is looking beyond the achievement of its 2024 goal towards further improvements and innovations.
Viviane Gut, Senior Director of Sustainability, at adidas said, “At adidas, we constantly strive to take innovation to the next level, and we are proud of the substantial steps we are taking in the right direction. In 2017 adidas made a commitment to replace virgin polyester with recycled wherever possible by 2024, and we know that it is important that we continue to share our progress and deliver against that commitment. But while we are proud, this is a step, not a solution. There is still much more that we want, and need, to achieve so we can become a bigger part of the solution than the problem. We are as motivated as ever to keep innovating and collaborating to create new possibilities”.
As the brand looks ahead, it will continue to expand its focus beyond recycled polyester. It will be doing this through three main areas of focus: changing materials by testing and scaling new raw materials, rethinking entire processes to design products that have a circular end-of-life solution, and reducing its carbon footprint.
