At last month’s Outdoor Trade Show, Richard Pyne, CEO of PÁRAMO, joined Paul Kerssens from UNITED REPAIR CENTRE at the Sustainability Breakfast to advocate the power of collaboration for circularity.
The industrial revolution not only brought significant societal advances but also led to rapid resource depletion. Their focus was on how to preserve our finite resources, championing repairs and looking to re-use and improve recycling to make positive changes through better sustainable practices in the textile industry.
The textile industry generates about 92m tonnes of waste annually with only 10-15% recycled and huge amounts ending up in landfill. This highlights the urgent need for better waste management and end-of-life garment practices. The rise of fast fashion, driven by low-cost, low-quality rapid production cycles, exacerbates this issue, creating a disposable mindset among consumers.
Páramo garments are designed without glues, laminates or taped seams, allowing for needle and thread repairs and entire panels to be replaced without compromising performance. This design philosophy ensures that garments can be easily repaired and continue to function effectively for many years.
Páramo’s recycling scheme has been in place for over a decade now and allows customers to trade in old garments for discounts on new. These garments are then refurbished and sold again or sent to the brand’s recycling partner. By offering easy collection points, in brand stores, retailers or via mail, Páramo takes responsibility for the entire lifecycle of its products.
The brand also strategically stores and reuses fabrics and components, ensuring that materials remain valuable and usable. This approach prevents fabric from becoming obsolete and helps maximise reusability.
Páramo garments are mono-material, being made from over 80% polyester by weight. This allows the brand to use a recycling route to preserve the quality of the virgin material used. Where a mechanical recycling method would produce a lower quality output, Páramo is pursuing advanced chemical recycling practices, which produce high-quality PET chip from old textiles.
The process involves depolymerisation and purification, removing dyes and contaminants, followed by repolymerisation to create high-quality PET chip. These chips maintain the quality of virgin materials, enabling the production of high-performance fabrics.
Currently, garment manufacturers predominantly use recycled materials from the packaging industry, such as bottle-based PET chip. However, as the packaging industry moves towards closing its own supply chain loop, the textile industry will need to find alternative sources for recycled materials. Chemical recycling offers a solution by converting used textiles back into high-quality raw materials.
Collaborating with Lafayette Sports, a fabric partner over the last 25 years, Páramo has integrated chemically recycled yarns into new garments, the Halkon® 360 jacket for wildlife photographers and naturalists and the Aspira 360, an expedition smock. These products demonstrate the feasibility of a closed-loop supply chain and the potential for industry-wide adoption.
Pyne believes that to accelerate sustainable practices industry-wide collaboration is essential. Increasing demand for chemically recycled materials will reduce costs and improve recycling infrastructure. Páramo aims to increase the use of these materials across its product range, ultimately eliminating the need for virgin materials.
Páramo is committed to exploring new repair techniques, such as offering customers the choice to wear repairs as badges of honour or opting for more extensive repairs that blend seamlessly with the original fabric. This approach addresses changing customer preferences and technical requirements over time.
Páramo Directional Clothing demonstrates that sustainability and profitability can coexist. By focusing on durability, repairability, and innovative recycling, Páramo aims to set a standard for the textile industry. In particular, the outdoor industry’s advanced use of synthetic fibres positions it uniquely to lead the transition to a circular economy, significantly reducing the ecological footprint and preserving resources for future generations.
Being directional, more than just breathable, means Nikwax Analogy waterproof fabric is capable of moving liquid water away from the body rather than just water vapour. Nikwax Analogy garments are unique in that, through directional technology, they pump out 80% of liquid water produced, allowing it to drain away to leave wearers feeling dry and comfortable.