Recycled Synthetics
Since day one, we’ve always considered materials as part of our innovation processes. This includes consistently being on the look-out to incorporate recycled and repurposed fabrics into our range...
What are Finisterre's Recycled Synthetic Fabrics?
You'll find a variety of recycled fabrics in our clothing. From recycled nylon and polyester in our swimwear and waterproofs, recycled cotton in our t-shirts to recycled wool in our fleeces, if we can recycle something, we will!
Recycled Plastic Clothing
Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean every year. This doesn’t even account for the mountains of plastic that are incinerated or sent to landfill. Despite growing public awareness of the problem, the rate at which our societies produce plastic waste is not relenting, and there is so much already out there.
That’s why we believe we need to rethink how we view plastic waste; a material resource, not just pollution.
Plastic, polymer-based fabrics offer durability and high performance, extending the lifetime of a garment. However, they are extracted from petroleum, an unsustainable and finite resource. Producing fabrics made from recycled plastics reduces our reliance on fossil fuels, requires considerably less energy and water, and reduces air pollution.
Hitting recycling landmarks...
In 2023, 84% of the synthetic polymer fabrics used in our range were made using recycled materials. We still use virgin synthetics in some of our fabric blends for stretch and comfort, but this makes up less than 5% of our total fabric consumption.* We are working hard to find a suitable natural and recycled alternative that doesn’t compromise on performance and is available in the small volumes that we require.
Our recycled polyester comes from both post-consumer and post-industrial waste, which is regenerated into new fibres, comparable in quality to virgin polyester. We also use recycled polyamide regenerated from post-industrial waste, collected during spinning and weaving at our fabric mills.
*Data reflects percentages of materials in our 2023 range, based on fabric composition of each style, by volume of product, excluding trims.