Envirowear Short Ad
Beeswift's Envirowear range has been designed to support industry challenges surrounding the environmental impact of personal protective clothing. This is achieved by using recycled plastic waste and an inventive mono-fibre design, where a single type of fibre is used consistently. This allows the creation of polyester from rPET, which is then incorporated into all components. This approach results in a unique collection of garments that offers high-visibility clothing wearers a circular solution: items that are both recycled and recyclable through the closed-loop process, setting an industry-first standard for circular sustainability.
Governments worldwide are leading efforts towards achieving net zero emissions, and large-scale projects strive for zero waste. While various high-visibility garments are out in the market with some manufacturers taking initial steps to embrace sustainability, the Envirowear range stands out with its innovative and genuinely sustainable approach. Furthermore, all garments have undergone testing for 50 washes—twice the minimum requirement—ensuring a longer lifespan.
Beeswift's Envirowear range is comprised of long and short-sleeve polo shirts, sweatshirts, t-shirts, and trousers in high-visibility orange and Saturn yellow, conforming to the EN ISO 20471 and RIS GORT 3279 (orange only) standards for high visibility.
Developed in collaboration with industry leader Project Plan B, advances in tape technology have enabled the creation of a proprietary heat-applied tape design that bonds to the garment using a polyester-derived adhesive. Certified as 'Designed to be Recycled' through Beeswift's membership in the Circular Textiles Foundation, this facilitates complete garment recycling.
Project Re:claim, a partnership between Project Plan B and the Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL), introduces the UK's first commercial-scale, post-consumer polyester recycling plant, based at SATCoL's Kettering, Northamptonshire facility. This site already features an automated textile sorting system called Fibersort. Envirowear can be recycled through Project Re:claim and SATCoL's unique site, transforming the garment into commercial-grade rPET pellets. These pellets can either be respun into yarn for new fabrics or employed in injection molding for accessories such as buttons and zipper pullers.
In terms of figures, on average, each Envirowear product utilizes 11 one-litre plastic bottles per garment, diverting them from landfill. Recycling approximately 1000 kilograms of Envirowear—roughly 3000 garments—will save 5 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This is equivalent to 25,000 miles in an average car or 41 trips from Lands End to John O'Groats, Great Britain’s two furthest points from the southwest to the northeast.