The Teijin Group announced the first-ever program in China for collecting and recycling used garments, which it has launched in collaboration with Li Ning Company Limited, the nation’s leading sports apparel company. Recycling will be carried out with ECO CIRCLE, an environmentally friendly closed-loop system incorporating the world’s first technology for the chemical recycling of polyester,which Teijin Fibers introduced in 2002.
As part of the program, Li Ning has designed tennis and training wear using Teijin Fibers’ chemically recycled ECO CIRCLE FIBERS, which are woven into textiles and dyed by Nantong Teijin Co., Limited, a Teijin group company based in Nantong, China. The inaugural 2009-10 winter lineup will be sold at 11 stores managed by Li Ning beginning in October.
Under the program, the Li Ning stores will accept these garments after they are worn out, from where they will be sent via Nantong Teijin to Teijin Fibers’ Matsuyama plant in Japan. After chemical decomposition, they will be converted into polyester raw material offering purity comparable to that derived from petroleum. The raw material will then be turned into high-quality ECO CIRCLE FIBERS,which will be used to manufacture new recyclable products.
Repeated recycling achieved with the ECO CIRCLE system reduces both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, each by approximately 80% compared to conventional petroleum-based processes that are used to produce polyester.
The global market for recyclable and recycled clothing is expanding, especially in Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Increased environmental consciousness in China, particularly among younger consumers, is also helping to fuel this trend in the world’s largest nation as well. Li Ning, which shares Teijin’s proactive commitment to environmental protection, has developed its lineup of tennis and training wear with a focus on Chinese consumers between the ages of 18 and 30, placing special emphasis on both fashion and comfort. The wear is also highly functional, combining water resistance to repel light raindrops and moisture permeability to enable perspiration to escape.
Teijin and Li Ning look forward to expanding the ECO CIRCLE program to help strengthen sustainability in the fast-growing Chinese market. Li Ning aims to expand its lineup of clothing made with environmentally friendly ECO CIRCLE FIBERS, as well as increase its sales locations to more than 100 within three years. “We are delighted that our first ECO CIRCLE member in China is Li Ning,the country’s leading sports apparel company,” said Norio Kamei, general manager, member of the board of Teijin Limited and president of Teijin Fibers Limited. “The need for environmental responsibility is becoming increasingly urgent, so it is of great significance that a major company like Li Ning has joined our ECO CIRCLE program to advance environmental protection in China. Teijin looks forward to working closely with Li Ning to demonstrate our mutual commitment to achieving sustainable, environmentally responsible societies.”
Going forward, Teijin will continue to expand the presence of its products and technologies around the world, including the ECO CIRCLE recycling program, which now has more than 120 participating companies. Based in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, Teijin is a global technology-driven group operating in five main fields: synthetic fibers (polyester fibers, carbon fibers and aramid fibers); films and plastics; pharmaceuticals and home health care; trading and retail; and IT and new products.
Li Ning brand was established in 1990. The brand gained a widespread reputation in the 1990 Asian Games .“Li Ning” sportswear was selected as the designated clothing of the 11th Asian Games. Dressing torch relay, Chinese and foreign reporters and the Chinese National Team for receiving medals in the Games. After more than 10 years of hard work, Li Ning has become the No.1 sporting goods brand among hundreds of millions of Chinese people. In 2004, Li Ning brand was successfully listed in Hong Kong, thus becoming the first listed China’s sporting goods enterprise.
