Textile Insight

As Demand Increases, So Do Performance, Transparency and Scalability. he landscape of recycled down is changing as momentum builds around circularity throughout the textile supply chain and spills over as brands heighten "reuse" themed storytelling marketed to consumers. Recent industry achievements reflect this new environment, bringing energy and innovation to end-of-life product solutions and raising the recycled down profile within both the outdoor arena and lifestyle apparel sectors. A broader supply chain is also taking shape. Seeing opportunity, more companies are entering the field specializing in collection, sorting and extraction of raw materials. This is particularly the case in Asia, where a marketplace for recycled down has been limited. Recycled down is not new. However, this season represents a turning point. Backed by today's greater emphasis on extending the life of this natural fiber, the latest recycled down products offer higher fill power, improved aesthetic value, enhanced transparency, and desired traceability features. More bright spots are on the horizon, including col- laboration to bring recycling down to scale and an effort to structure community alliance to drive circularity in the down business. Next Steps For the past year Downlite has been working with deBrand, a company specializing in reverse logistics and textile recycling, to establish an end-plan for down- filled garments. Downlite has been a player in the down recycling space for four years but the new relationship with deBrand, based in Vancouver, Canada, will push that initiative forward in a couple ways. For example, recycled down from garments, especially down from performance outdoor apparel, is higher-grade than recycled down from bedding and pillows. Traditionally, brands seeking to utilize recycled down had to settle for smaller clusters and lower fill power. In addition, Downlite and deBrand are developing new machinery to do the extraction and bring garment down recycling to scale. Improved traceability is another benefit. Lindsay Parrish, Downlite's VP sales-outdoor, explains that because Downlite partner brands feature RDS-certified down in their gar- ments, this certification can now be applied to Downlite recycled down as well. "Previously RDS could not be applied because the down from bedding and pillows came from unknown sources," shared Parrish, adding that the new Downlite x deBrand recycling program looks to launch late Spring or early Summer 2021. Recognizing the value of their performance down gar- ments, many Downlite partner brands have held onto inventory which now will be available for recycling by deBrand. Going forward, Downlite partners will ship gar- ments to the deBrand facility in Vancouver for extraction, and then transferred to Downlite's plant to be refreshed for reuse. "Previously recycled down was best for lifestyle apparel worn by urban warriors, but now with these improvements recycled down will perform in technical products," Parrish noted. Rise in Demand "Down is already an incredibly sustainable ingredient sourced as a by-product of the food industry, but with a recent push toward circularity, recycled down has seen a meteoric return," explained Daniel Uretsky, ALLIED Feather + Down president. He elaborated, "With the increased interest brands have seen towards the overall footprint T IN THE MARKET | DOWN UPDATE Upbeat on Recycled Down 12 • Textile Insight ~ March/April 2021 textileinsight.com Allied's RENU:750 high performance recycled down will feature in technical outerwear by Jones Snowboards in Fall 2021.

• Cover