Can we really make fashion circular at scale?

US-based fashion designer and upcycler Andrew Burgess chats with PUMA’s Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy, Simon Hessel, about upcycling materials and defining 'circularity', the role of brands vs shoppers in ensuring more sustainable fashion and how PUMA’s RE:FIBRE project is a step towards a better future.

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PUMA has ten target areas, each with a set of goals, that we are striving to reach by 2025. This episode focuses on the target area of Circularity. Circular fashion is about extending a product’s lifespan through reuse, reselling, upcycling, repairing or, at the end of a products useful life, recycling.

What it actually means: For PUMA, circularity means projects like RE:FIBRE, that create a loop by turning old clothes into new ones so we don't need to use new material to make new garments. Or RE:SUEDE, PUMA’s experiment in creating a biodegradable shoe.

Goal 1: Establish ‘takeback’ schemes in all major markets

The PUMA takeback scheme is where we encourage consumers to give us back their old clothes when they’re done with them. At the moment, PUMA’s focus is on polyester garments, encouraging people to drop off their PUMA cast-offs to be recycled via our RE:FIBRE program. This has successfully rolled out with partner football clubs including Manchester City, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Olympique de Marseille.

Goal 2: Reduce production waste to landfills by at least 50% compared to 2020

Production waste is mainly the material that is not needed when cutting the pattern to make garments or shoes - ie. the offcuts. In 2022, we had 48% less waste to landfill per pair of shoes compared to 2020. However, we saw a 1% increase per apparel piece from 2020. This increase was mainly due to the on-boarding of new strategic factories in 2022 that have not yet worked on this target.

Goal 3: Develop recycled material options for leather, rubber, cotton and polyurethane

We increased the use of recycled cotton and rubber. We launched PUMA RE:COLLECTION made of recycled cotton and polyester and RE:GEN collection made of regenerated leather and recycled cotton. We’re continuing to increase the number of products using these recycled materials across our range.

PUMA publishes all of its progress, challenges and setbacks in its Sustainability Report. You can find the 2022 report online now by going to about.puma.com