Recycled-Polyester T-Shirt
150g tee, 100% rPET
Better, not solved. Recycled polyester cuts virgin resin and energy by roughly a third, but it sheds microfibre exactly like virgin PET and takes bottles out of the bottle-to-bottle loop.
Material breakdown
3 components- Recycled PET fibre147g
- Polyester thread2g
- Label1g
Production footprint
Per unitEstimated upstream manufacturing footprint per unit, based on resin LCA averages.
Lower-impact alternatives
- Organic cotton teeNo plastic fibre at all, fully compostable.0gplastic
- Hemp or linen blend teeLow-water crops, hard-wearing fabric.0gplastic
- Wash cold in a filter bagCuts fibre release from any synthetic tee by most of its total.150gplastic
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References for this item
Peer-reviewed studies and institutional reports behind the figures above.
- Open-loop recycling: A LCA case study of PET bottle-to-fibre recycling ↗Shen, L., Worrell, E. & Patel, M. K. (2010) · Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55(1), 34–52
Quantifies the energy and impact savings of recycled (bottle-to-fibre) polyester against virgin PET fibre — the source for our recycled-polyester comparison.
- Materials Market Report 2023 ↗Textile Exchange (2023) · Textile Exchange
Global fibre production volumes and the recycled-content share of polyester — context for our recycled-polyester figures.
- Analysis of the polyester clothing value chain to identify key intervention points for sustainability ↗Palacios-Mateo, C., van der Meer, Y. & Seide, G. (2021) · Environmental Sciences Europe, 33(1), 2
Cradle-to-grave analysis of polyester garments: fibre production energy, dyeing and finishing impacts, and end-of-life fate. Primary basis for our polyester weights and energy figures.