Recycled Outerwear: rPET vs Recycled Nylon

More teams want a credible sustainability story on their kit — without paying a fortune or dropping performance. Recycled outerwear is now mainstream and does exactly that. The only trick is knowing what the claims on the label actually mean.

Recycled polyester vs recycled nylon

Recycled polyester (rPET) is the common one — most often made from post-consumer plastic bottles. It’s durable, cost-effective, and turns up in the majority of recycled fleeces, softshells and jacket shells. For everyday branded outerwear it’s usually the sensible choice.

Recycled nylon is often reclaimed from industrial waste and old fishing nets. It tends to be stronger and more abrasion-resistant, which suits more technical or premium shells — and it usually costs a bit more. For most teams the performance difference won’t be the deciding factor; budget and the specific garment will be.

In both cases, the recycled fabric performs comparably to virgin material for everyday use. You’re not trading down on warmth or weather protection to get the eco credentials.

How to avoid greenwashing

“Eco” on its own means very little. Two quick checks keep you honest:

• Ask for the recycled-content figure. “Made with recycled materials” could mean 100% or 5%. A real number — say 100% recycled polyester shell — is what counts.
• Look for a recognised standard. Independent certification of recycled content carries far more weight than a vague brand claim on the swing tag.

We’re happy to point you to the recycled content and any certification on anything we quote — so the story you tell your customers and staff stands up.

You don’t have to change garment to go recycled

This is the part most buyers miss: recycled options now exist right across the outerwear range, so you can usually keep the exact style you wanted and simply choose the recycled version. The fleece, the softshell and many workwear jackets all have recycled-fabric equivalents.

It decorates exactly the same

Recycled fabrics take embroidery and print just like virgin material — there’s no compromise on how your logo looks or lasts. So the choice is purely about the fabric and the budget, not the branding. If you’re deciding how to apply the logo, here’s DTF vs embroidery.