Lululemon invests in Australian upcycling firm Samsara Eco

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
May 22, 2023

Canada's Lululemon Athletica has made a minority investment in Australian upcycling firm, Samsara Eco, as the activewear giant homes in on sustainable and innovative fabrics for its products.

​The multi-year collaboration involves textile-to-textile recycling, and sees Samsara Eco create the world’s first infinitely recycled nylon 6,6 and polyester, according to a press release from the enviro-tech start-up.

The two companies plan to create a new recycled nylon and polyester made from apparel waste, bringing to life lower-impact alternatives to important materials in the performance apparel industry.

“We’re proud that this partnership is disrupting the apparel industry. The ability to infinitely recycle textiles, including nylon, is an essential solution to tackle the enormous challenge of textile waste in the apparel industry," said Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara Eco.

"Together with Lululemon, Samara Eco is creating enzymatically recycled nylon and accelerating textile-to-textile recycling toward truly circular apparel. This is a massive milestone as Samsara Eco achieves an environmentally friendly ability to recycle blended textiles including nylon and polyester."

The partnership marks Lululemon’s first-ever minority investment in a recycling company, and Samsara Eco’s first partnership within the apparel industry.

“Nylon remains our biggest opportunity to achieve our 2030 sustainable product goals. This partnership demonstrates what’s possible through collective innovation to solve unmet needs," said Yogendra Dandapure, vice president, raw materials innovation at Lululemon.

"Through Samsara Eco’s patented enzymatic process, we’re advancing transforming apparel waste into high quality nylon and polyester, which will help us live into our end-to-end vision of circularity."
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Nylon and polyester make up roughly 60% of clothing produced today, according to Samsara Eco.
Globally, around 87% of discarded textiles either end up in landfill, incinerated or leak into the environment, until now, there’s been no method of recycling it,