Sympatex is contributing more environmentally-friendly alternatives to the textile sector.
The technical textiles maker is launching new recyclable materials at Milan’s leather goods trade show, Lineapelle, on Sept. 20-22. Sympatex’s recent portfolio expansions are part of the company’s first proposed 100 percent recycled membrane development plans.
In 2011, Sympatex introduced a pre-consumer recycling procedure as standard to the membrane’s production, reducing virgin material input by up to 15 percent. The material and the energy savings are created by a mono-material return of membrane production waste into the production process. The next step is to create the 100 percent recycled membrane, which is composed of completely reprocessed membrane waste. This material is free from PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and PFC (perfluorinated compounds) and is made of reusable polyether-ester. Qualitative reprocessing and laminating then turns the 100 percent recycled membrane into a recycled mono-material Sympatex PES laminate.
For its apparel business unit, Sympatex offers laminates with recycled outer and lining fabrics. The company will also provide environmentally-friendly solutions to the footwear industry, with a new three-layer warm lining laminate. This material is composed of 100 percent recycled PET bottles. Since it also contains the 100 percent recycled membrane, the new laminate is also 100 percent waterproof, highly breathable and may be recycled after use.
“The development of the 100 percent recycled Sympatex membrane is the next logical step of our sustainability strategy for us. There is hardly another industrial product that gets closer to the customer than garment,” Sympatex CEO Dr. Rüdiger Fox said. “So the customer has every right to expect us to be pioneers of health compatibility and also of constant efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.”