Update: The Puma Manchester City 2024 Year of the Dragon football kit is Puma's first licensed football kit to be made from RE:FIBRE, the brand's recycling clothing tech. In addition, Puma, in partnership with German retailer 11teamsports, released a special Puma Re:Fibre football kit. Tech-wise, there is no difference visible between the old (PET) and new (textile) recycled Puma kits.
Manchester City 2024 "Year of the Dragon" Kit Released
From 2024, almost all Puma replica kits will be made from recycled clothes.
Puma Expand RE:FIBRE Technology to All Replica Football Kits
As announced in early December, Puma will expand their textile recycling innovation, RE:FIBRE, by replacing recycled polyester with RE:FIBRE technology in all Puma football club and association replica kits from 2024.
In terms of design and tech, the Puma 2024 RE:FIBRE fabric makes no (notable) difference to the current replica kits.
Meanwhile, Puma did not say anything about the authentic kits, so we assume there will be no changes for the player-worn kits. Puma's authentic kits are made with "100% recycled material excluding trims and decorations".
Since the launch of the pilot project in 2022, which saw Puma produce recycled training jerseys for their sponsored football clubs, RE:FIBRE technology has been used to create Switzerland and Morocco replica kits for the Women’s World Cup as well as Girona’s 2023-24 third kit.
In 2024, Puma's official replica football kits, including those for the Euro and Copa America tournaments, will be made with RE:FIBRE recycled materials made from old clothes and factory waste, rather than just recycled plastic bottles.
Puma wants to solve the problem of textile waste with a long-term recycling solution. They are doing this by diversifying their sources of recycled polyester to reduce their reliance on clear plastic bottles. The RE:FIBRE process can therefore use any polyester material - from factory waste, defective goods to pre-loved garments - allowing new garments to be made from any fabric color.
The four-step process of RE:FIBRE sees:
- Collect and Sort: Collecting and sorting textile waste and other previously wasteful materials.
- Shred and Mix: Shredding and mixing the collected materials down to the minimum.
- Dissolve, Filter and Polymerize: Melting down the shredded polyester and ridding them of previous dyes through a chemical recycling process.
- Melt, Spin, Knit and Sew: The melting allows the newly produced polymers to become ready to be spun and sewn into shape to create good as new RE:FIBRE fabric which can be recycled again and again.
Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at Puma said:
"Our wish is to have 100% of product polyester coming from textile waste. Textile waste build-up in landfills is an environmental risk. Rethinking the way we produce and moving towards a more circular business model is one of the main priorities of our sustainability strategy."
Puma Re:Fibre Teamwear Kit
There are very few exclusions from products having RE:FIBRE - the local-produced replicas for Fenerbahçe SK, Shakhtar Donetsk (and likely also Galatasaray) and locally sourced kits will not be made from recycled textiles.
Will other brands follow? What do you think about Puma using recycled textiles for almost all replica kits from 2024? Comment below.