Puma is taking on textile waste with a new collection dedicated to the repair and reconstruction of footwear, apparel and accessories. The Re.Gen lineup is part of Puma’s initiatives to construct new merchandise from the footwear company’s own waste and other recycled materials in the industry, and deliver a modern collection that makes an environmental statement through street style.
The Re.Gen debut is part of Puma’s commitment to circularity, reducing its environmental impact and living up to its code of being “Forever Better.” Apparel styles in the collection are made with recycled polyester or at least 20 percent recycled cotton, while all footwear features a minimum of 20 percent recycled material on the upper.
The Re.Gen collection incorporates three different kinds of recycled material: leather off-cuts from Puma’s own production, cotton off-cuts from the greater textile industry and polyester made from recycled plastic.
The collection launched in two separate drops on March 18 and April 22, and is sold in Puma’s stores and e-commerce site, as well as undisclosed select retail partners. Currently, the collection includes 11 items on puma.com, with seven of them being women’s including sneakers, a cropped jacket, a woven skirt, a T-shirt, two tanks and leggings. The collection also includes two caps, a shoulder bag and a tote bag.
Re.Gen not only uses the recycling process to influence the product’s creation, it also takes inspiration from it through design features. The apparel line includes a unique pattern that’s inspired by broken-down plastic. Contrasting fabric mixes and unexpected cut lines appear throughout the collection, inspired by upcycling—the process in which old, unwanted materials are reconstructed or repurposed into something new. Every piece features a recycled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) badge and a label telling the product story. The pieces feature dynamic cutlines, fresh fabric mixes and tonal colors.
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The German footwear brand has delved into recycled collections, particularly plastic, in the past, teaming with the First Mile initiative in February 2020 to release an apparel and footwear collection produced from recycled plastic yarn collected in countries including Haiti, Honduras and Taiwan.
Each apparel item in the Puma x First Mile capsule featured between 83 percent and 100 percent recycled polyester produced from plastic bottles recovered from the network run by First Mile, which works with local economies in impoverished areas to collect plastic waste from entrepreneurs and turn it into quality yarn for apparel, footwear and other products. Fifty percent of the footwear uppers, meanwhile, were made from the recycled yarn.
Last year, Puma launched Design to Fade, a project that aimed to explore the design possibilities of sustainably produced materials and chemical-free dye in performance apparel, in a step toward a zero-waste future. The brand also launched a collection with the Central Saint Martins design school in London, that combined digital printing with “dope-dyed” textiles that reduced water consumption by up to 17.4 percent for certain products.