On Nov. 10, Loop Industries announced that Nike will serve as the anchor customer in a multi-year supply agreement for its Twist circular polyester resin – produced exclusively from textile waste.
The agreement is linked to the Infinite Loop India facility (a joint venture with Ester Industries) and aims to reduce virgin-polyester usage in Nike’s product lines.
What the deal includes
The resin is produced via patented technology that depolymerizes low-value textile and PET waste into monomers, then repolymerizes the result into virgin polyester. The India facility is projected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 81 percent and save up to 418,600 tons of CO2 annually versus traditional virgin PET production. All Twist-based products will include full traceability, via Loop’s proprietary chemical tracing.
Material innovation takes center stage
For the sporting-goods industry, this agreement signals a strategic shift: material innovation is becoming as essential as product performance. Nike’s commitment to textile-to-textile recycled polyester moves the needle beyond incremental recycling toward industrial-scale circularity. Brands in the active-lifestyle sector such as Adidas and Puma will face increasing pressure to adopt similarly ambitious material strategies.
Strategic context
Nike has publicly targeted a 65 percent reduction in emissions within its operations and a 30 percent reduction along its supply chain by 2030. Raw-materials account for roughly 34 percent of its carbon footprint. By securing a long-term supplier and anchoring demand, Nike reduces the commercial risk of scaling circular resin – and helps de-risk the emerging category for other brands. For Loop, the contract provides a crucial pathway to commercialization and supports its India-facility build-out.
The bottom line
As this partnership illustrates, sustainability has moved from a voluntary add-on to a strategic imperative within the athletic-footwear industry. Nike and Loop Industries are betting that closed-loop materials will soon be table-stakes – and this deal may mark a structural inflection point for how sporting-goods materials are sourced, produced and traced.
