Dive Brief:
- After releasing a biodegradable suede shoe earlier this year, Puma launched its Re:Collection line on Thursday featuring products made with between 20% and 100% recycled materials.
- The collection includes running and training products like shoes and tights. The tights are made with “at least” 70% recycled material, but have the same moisture-wicking properties as the brand’s drycell technology, according to the announcement.
- The collection will be available for the fall/winter 2022 season online and in stores. Puma aims to use 75% recycled polyester for all of its clothing and accessories by 2025.
Dive Insight:
Puma joins other retail companies, many of them athletic brands, in experimenting with recycled materials.
Nike unveiled an eco-friendly material this month called Forward, which is 70% recycled content by weight. The brand debuted the material with a gray hoodie and a crewneck. Fruit of the Loom also recently teamed up with Recover, a recycled cotton company, to create limited-edition unisex T-shirts with 20% of Recover’s recycled cotton fiber. Running shoe brand On debuted a shoe created using carbon emissions as a raw material last week. The outsole of the shoe was made from post-consumer plastic waste.
The retail industry is inherently harmful to the environment, especially as companies pursue growth at all costs. However, some research suggests that consumers want retailers to operate more sustainably. A September survey released by Descartes Systems Group found that more than half of consumers were interested in eco-friendly delivery methods, and 54% were willing to wait longer if the delivery method was sustainable.
Sustainability is one of Puma’s strategic priorities, but the brand outlined seven others for this year in its Q2 2022 results: “brand heat,” tailoring its products to suit its consumers, creating more products for women, improving its distribution, streamlining its organizational infrastructure, using basketball to reach more North American consumers and focusing on local relevance.
In addition to releasing the Re:Collection line, Puma earlier this year unveiled its Re:Suede biodegradable suede shoe and distributed pairs to brand ambassadors Cara Delevingne, Raphaël Varane and Kyle Kuzma. The company shared 500 pairs with other participants in Germany to test out for half of the year before Puma collects them to attempt to biodegrade them.
