Technological watch

• BASF and VAUDE take a step towards an effective circular economy together
• Polyamides based on chemically recycled tires form the basis for robust outdoor pants
• Available in stores from March 2022

Recycled pants based on old tires: The new product line of the outdoor apparel company VAUDE which will be available in stores from March 2022, does not only stands out due to its timeless design, robust material and simple reparability – the pants are also sustainable, as chemically recycled scrap tires are used as a raw material. With this innovation, BASF and VAUDE seek to make a contribution towards reducing waste and preserving valuable resources.

“Our Ultramid® Ccycled™ is an innovative polyamide 6 that can be used to manufacture high-quality textiles. During production, we save fossil-based raw materials while also offering our customers a reduced carbon footprint,” stated Christoph Gahn, Vice President Business Management Polyamides at BASF. René Bethmann, Innovation Manager at VAUDE, added: “We want to be a pioneer in building up a circular economy for our functional clothing. Our goal is to make a measurable contribution for the environment. This clearly includes reducing the amount of primary fossil resources used, as well as cutting down on the CO2 emitted when making our products. By using Ultramid® CcycledTM, we can reduce the carbon footprint by more than half*.”

BASF feeds pyrolysis oil from old tires into its production Verbund in Ludwigshafen, and in doing so partially replaces fossil resources. The share of recycled raw material is assigned to certain products manufactured in the Verbund using a certified mass balance approach. As products with “CcycledTM” in their name have exactly the same properties as the equivalents made from fossil raw materials, customers can process them in the same manner and use them in their conventional processes. Accordingly, Ultramid® CcycledTM can also be used in applications with high quality and performance requirements, such as in the textile industry.

* based on the HIGG Material Sustainability Index

Source: BASF and VAUDE, joint press release, 2021-03-19.