Xtep strives to produce one million PLA products a quarter
According to data from the United Nations, the total carbon emissions of fashion-related industries have exceeded all international flights and shipping combined, accounting for 10% of global carbon emissions. This staggering emissions also makes it second only to the oil industry. the second most polluting industry. Regarding how to reduce the pollution of the fashion industry, domestic sporting goods manufacturer Xtep has given its own solution.
On World Environment Day in 2020, Xtep released the world's first PLA windbreaker, becoming the first company in the industry to overcome the problem of PLA coloring and thus be able to successfully produce PLA garments. After that, Xtep started its own way of PLA clothing development.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is mainly extracted from starch-containing crops such as corn and straw, and is converted into polylactic acid fiber after spinning. Clothes made from PLA fibers naturally degrade within a year. Replacing chemical fibers made of non-degradable plastics with polylactic acid can reduce the harm to the environment at the source.
In June 2021, Xtep launched a new eco-friendly product: the PLA T-shirt. In the PLA windbreaker released in 2020, the composition of PLA only accounts for 19% of the fabric of the whole garment. A year later, on PLA T-shirts, the composition of PLA has increased significantly, reaching 60% of the fabric composition of the entire garment.
Xtep said that knitted sweaters planned to be sold in the second quarter of 2022 will further increase the PLA content to 67%. It is planned that in the third quarter of 2022, 100% pure PLA clothes will be put on the market. The company's goal is to gradually achieve breakthroughs in the application of PLA products, and strive to achieve more than one million PLA products produced in a quarter by 2023.
Just on June 5 this year, Xtep released a 100% polylactic acid content environmental protection windbreaker, which reflects the green sustainable strategy by using biodegradable environmental protection materials.
There are other environmentally friendly products in Xtep Group's "environmentally friendly family". In addition to clothing made of PLA material, there are also shoes, clothing and accessories made of organic cotton, serona material, DuPont paper and other eco-friendly materials. The design and production of environmentally friendly products is not limited to the Xtep brand, and its new brands Saucony and Palladium have also joined the exploration in the field of environmental protection. It is understood that at present, products made of environmentally friendly materials account for 30% of all categories of Xtep Group.
