Late last year PrimaLoft announced PrimaLoft Bio, a line of 100 percent biodegradable materials that included insulation for outerwear and a performance fabric. Now the insulation materials company is announcing the early adopters for those materials.
The first American company to join the project, L.L. Bean will release a collection of PrimaLoft Bio apparel as soon as 2020. So will German apparel maker, Vaude, which was recently pegged as one of the early adopters of the Circular Fashion Games. They will be joined by two Norwegian apparel companies, Helly Hansen and Norrøna.
“L.L.Bean and PrimaLoft have worked together since 1989, when we introduced our Mountain Light Jacket, the first PrimaLoft-insulated garment, and outfitted 30 international climbers for the Everest Peace Climb,” Tom Armstrong, CFO at L.L.Bean, said in a statement. “Today, PrimaLoft is an established leader in sustainability stewardship and material innovation that is changing the tide in the outdoor industry.”
Noting that PrimaLoft Bio is a product line committed to creating long-living, sustainable garments and not the “promotion of discarded garments prematurely or without serious regard,” Primaloft president and CEO, Mike Joyce, lauded the participation of the brands he says helped develop the new product line and will continue to be involved in its distribution.
“We’ve collaborated with a community of brands that share our common sustainability values and goals,” Joyce said. “It is a privilege to introduce PrimaLoft Bio with these respected companies–all of whom provided invaluable insight and feedback on this technology. Together, we are establishing a new industry standard for environmentally conscious product design, sustainability best practices and transparency, to meet consumer demand.”
PrimaLoft says that it has so far saved roughly 95 million plastic bottles from landfills by integrating them into its insulation. It estimates that, by 2020, 90 percent of its insulation products will be at least halfway composed of post-consumer plastic waste. Its products have become increasingly composed of recycled plastic, culminating in the release of a completely post-consumer plastic insulation product in 2018.
And it will continue minimizing impact with this new line of products. Through extensive testing, the company said its PrimaLoft Bio fibers achieved a state of 75 percent degradation in simulated landfill conditions after a period of a year.