Nylon is widely used in sportswear because of its strength, durability, and lightweight performance. New raw material solutions are helping reduce the use of fossil resources while maintaining the same material quality and performance.
Building a renewable nylon supply chain
Neste, Goldwin Inc., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., and Toray Industries, Inc. have established a supply chain to produce nylon fibre made from renewable raw materials. The nylon fibre produced through this project is used by Goldwin in selected high-performance THE NORTH FACE products.
The renewable fibre is produced from raw materials, such as waste and residues, including used cooking oil, providing an alternative to conventional fossil-based naphtha used in nylon production. The resulting nylon has the same quality and performance as conventional nylon and can be used in the same applications.
The renewable raw material can be used in existing manufacturing processes without requiring new production infrastructure, while a mass balance approach is applied to attribute the renewable raw materials used in the process to the product.
According to Neste, using renewable raw materials in place of virgin fossil feedstocks can reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the raw material by more than 85%**, based on a life cycle assessment.
This collaboration demonstrates how companies across the textile value chain can work together to introduce renewable raw materials into high-performance textile applications while reducing reliance on fossil resources.
** Life Cycle Assessment on Environmental Impacts of Neste Renewable Polymers and Chemicals (30 June 2021)
Featured picture – credits: Goldwin Inc.