BASF and Inditex jointly announced on Jan. 23 a breakthrough in promoting circularity in the textile industry. With the launch of Loopamid, a Polyamide 6 (a synthetic polymer widely used in numerous textile applications due to its excellent mechanical properties and versatility, also known as Nylon 6) made from 100 percent textile waste, BASF is now offering a circular solution for nylon garments based entirely on textile waste.
Also on Jan. 23, fashion company Zara presented a jacket made from 100 percent Loopamide, which went on sale worldwide. Following a “design for recycling” approach, all product parts, including fabrics, buttons, filling, Velcro and zipper, are made from Loopamid.
With Loopamid, BASF aims to improve circularity in the fashion industry by recycling Polyamide 6 (PA6) textile waste. The technology tolerates all fabric blends, including PA6 mixed with elastane, enabling textile-to-textile recycling of industrial textile waste and used clothing. At the same time, the material properties are identical to those of conventional polyamide.
Inditex has partnered with other leading suppliers in the apparel industry to seamlessly integrate Loopamid into various apparel components, including fabrics, zippers, buttons, fillings, hook and loop fasteners and sewing threads. ModaRe, a take-back program of Caritas, has classified and sorted discarded textiles and provided them as source material. Italian RadiciGroup has worked on converting Loopamid polymer into different types of yarn with different properties. YKK and Velcro have played a key role in using the Loopamid polymer to produce plastic components for zippers and press studs as well as hook and loop fasteners. Uniter from Spain, Tessitura Vignetta from Italy, and Freudenberg and Gütermann from Germany have also participated in this project to develop other garment components such as inner labels, filling materials and sewing threads made from loopamid.
BASF aims to double its sales of solutions for the circular economy to €17 billion by 2030. To achieve this, the company focuses on three fields of action: circular raw materials, new material cycles and new business models. In turn, Inditex has set itself the goal of manufacturing 100 percent of its textile products exclusively from materials with a smaller ecological footprint by 2030. As part of this commitment, the group assumes that 25 percent of textile fibers will be made from next-generation materials that do not yet exist on an industrial scale. 40 percent will be conventional recycled materials, and 25 percent organic and regenerative fibers.
