Polyester is the second most used material in the Atlantis collections.
This fiber is one of the most used in the world: ultra-resistant, good color fastness, quickly dry and allows more customization techniques than cotton.
There are some downsides also: it’s made from Polyethylene terephthalate (i.e. PET) the most common type of plastic. It’s not biodegradable and it comes mainly from petrol.
But there is a solution: Recycled polyester (or rPET) is made from polymers obtained by melting down plastic bottles and re-spinning them into new polyester fiber which could then be recycled again to make other plastic bottles and so on.
This is an example of a “circular economy” sustainability model: designing something by using infinitely recyclable material.
Plastics are kept from going to landfill and to the ocean.
Non-renewable resources are also conserved by replacing the need for virgin materials
rPET CO2 emissions are reduced by 32% in comparison to regular polyester
Same as virgin polyester in terms of quality, but its production requires 59% less energy
Extraction of crude oil and natural gases are reduced from the earth to make more plastic
