To further commemorate its recent milestone of recycling 10 billion bottles, Unifi, a leader in branded recycled performance fibres, has announced the recipients of the inaugural Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards. These annual awards celebrate Unifi’s brand and textile partners that share in its commitment to sustainability and vision for a better tomorrow.

“Unifi created the Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards to recognise our brand and textile partners that have achieved plastic bottle recycling milestones as a result of their use of Repreve performance fibres,” said Kevin Hall, Unifi Chairman & CEO.

“We are proud to honour companies that exemplify leadership in sustainability and are among those that have contributed to the more than 10 billion bottles that Unifi has recycled so far. We look forward to recognising even more companies in the future as we work toward our goal of recycling 30 billion bottles by 2022.”

Recycled awards

Repreve Champions of Sustainability will be awarded to 25 brand and retail partners that have each used the equivalent of 10 million or more bottles, and 15 textile partners that have each used the equivalent of 50 million or more bottles, through the use of Repreve fibre.

“More than 70% of plastic bottles in the United States end up in a landfill,” Hall explained. “By creating these awards, we hope to inspire designers, customers and consumers to continue to invest in sustainability, and that together, we can make everyday life better by transforming recycled plastic bottles into the products consumers use every day.”

To craft the awards, Unifi partnered with The Olio, a non-profit organisation based in Winston-Salem, NC, that focuses on teaching and empowerment through entrepreneurship, glassblowing, art and sustainable solutions. Each custom crafted award is blown by hand from glass recycled from local restaurants and bars and sits on a base made from recycled aluminium and reclaimed wood.

Special category awards

In addition to the bottle awards, Unifi is also introducing four special category awards:

• Repreve Partners in Innovation recognises companies using Repreve in a way that’s unique to the market. The awards went to Cone Denim, Lucky Textiles, Momentum Textiles, and Patagonia.
• Repreve Circular Economy recognises companies demonstrating best-in-class use of the closed loop concept, which aims to eliminate waste throughout the product life cycle. In this category Designtex Steelcase, and The North Face were recognised.
• Repreve Newcomer recognises key companies that started using Repreve in the past year. Downlite, New Era Cap, and Okaidi became recipients of this award.
• Repreve All-In recognises companies that integrated Repreve into their entire product line from the beginning of the partnership. This award went to Kathmandu.

Awards recipients

Brand and Retailer Bottle Awards went to: Adidas, Ford Motor Company, H&M, Haggar Clothing Co., Hanesbrands Inc., Haworth, JCPenney, Levi Strauss & Co., Lindex, Momentum Textiles, Nike, Perry Ellis International, Polartec, PVH, Quiksilver, Target, Under Armour, VF Corporation, Volcom, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Textile Partner Bottle Awards went to Billion Rise, Burlington, Darlington A Moore Company, duvaltex, Intradeco Apparel, MAS Fabrics, Milliken & Company, Ningbo Shenzhou, Pettenati, Sage Automotive Interiors, SCT, Shanghai Shenan, Texhong, Tuntex, and Valdese Weavers LLC.

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