Wedze, a winter sports brand owned by retailer Decathlon, has launched a ski jacket made with recycled polyester and Resortecs’ SmartStitch solution. Resortecs says its Smart Stitch and Smart Disassembly technologies enable fashion brands to develop product lines that can be quickly separated when they’re beyond repair simply by exposing them to high heat.
Faced with the challenge of making a jacket from single material, Wedza explored the possibility of using Smart Stitch.
Smart Stitch is a heat-dissolvable thread that – when an item reaches the end of its life – can be melted away at temperatures above 1900C to separate the fabric from additional components such as zippers and buttons.
By integrating the technology into Wedze’s ski jacket, the company says all components can be more efficiently separated and returned to the supply chain. After successful integration, customers can return their used jackets if they’re damaged or no longer fit and then recycle them.
One of the main difficulties faced while recycling fashion is the frequent use of different materials that are mixed together and often difficult to separate, which puts a strain on sorting and recycling facilities trying to determine the value of clothing waste.
Cédric Vanhoeck, Co-founder and CEO at Resortecs, commented, “We are excited to launch a product with Wedze because, like the entire Decathlon group, they are known for their efforts to develop more sustainable products. The jacket looks great and has infinite possibilities for its next lifecycle.”
