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Tomorrow’s Lululemon leggings might just be made from recycled materials thanks to a collab with a recycling startup.
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Recycling is fast becoming de rigueur in the fashion industry. Whether it’s using recycled materials or setting up bins for clothing to be recycled, more and more brands are starting to change. Thankfully, this sweeping change is speeding through the athleisure wear industry where most materials are plastic-based polyester, nylon, and spandex. Sourced from fossil fuels, these materials not only release pollution into the air, they also release toxins into the soil and water resources as they slowly decompose. This month, Lululemon leggings might be the latest popular athleisure wear items that will be made from recycled materials. This could spark the industry-wide change that’s needed to greatly reduce plastic pollution.
Joining the ranks with brands like Wolven, Patagonia, and Girlfriend Collective, Lululemon is the latest athleisure wear brand to shift towards recycling programs. This week, the brand announced a multi-year partnership with the enviro-tech start-up Samsara Eco to focus on textile-to-textile recycling. With an end goal of creating an infinitely recyclable material, this partnership could mean that the next wave of Lululemon leggings that could be waste free, toxin-free, and maybe even net-positive.
Lululemon’s Recycling Goals
In nature, plastic is non biodegradable. That means it doesn’t decompose naturally. By some estimates it can take up to 200 years for plastic materials to decompose. Compare that to the 5 months or 5 years it can take for cotton and wool respectively to decompose. Athleisure Wear, an industry that sells an estimated 670 million pieces annually, is heavily reliant on plastic-based fabrics. But, instead of following the standard make-take-waste model that ends with trashing millions of pieces yearly into landfills, more brands see the opportunity for circularity- transforming old clothes into new fabrics. And this change could help to keep millions of pieces of plastic clothing like Lululemon leggings out of our landfills.
In a press release Lululemon’s Vice President of Raw Materials, Yogendra Dandapure, emphasized the company’s circular vision to move towards a take-make-recycle model stating, “Through Samsara Eco’s patented enzymatic process, we’re advancing transforming apparel waste into high-quality nylon and polyester, which will help us live into our end-to-end vision of circularity.” This partnership marks a first for the athleisure wear giant when it comes to a minority-stake in a recycling company. It also marks a steady move towards sustainability from a brand that has launched programs to repair items and set goals to ensure that 100% of their materials are natural, renewable, or advance a circular ecosystem by 2030. By switching to recycled fibers, Lululemon can cut emissions by up to 60% compared to new polyester. The brand can also divert its products from entering landfills and causing more environmental problems such as greenhouse gas emission and microplastics.
As for the Australian start-up, Samsara Eco, the company is well on its way to meet its mission of ensuring that plastics become infinitely recyclable. Its first-of-a-kind plastics and textile enzymatic recycling plant will enable clothing brands like Lululemon to endlessly recycle their products. The technology is innovative, because it breaks down plastics to their original building blocks (monomers) so that they can be continuously manufactured into new products.
So, Does This Mean Lululemon Is Sustainable?
If you’re a fan of the brand you might have to wait a few years to buy their new recycled pieces. Lululemon and Samara Eco may have inked a 10-year deal this year, but according to an press release from April 2025, it’s textile recycling plant won’t be finished until 2028. Even so, the two companies have been getting creative together and debuted a limited edition product in 2024- an anorak made from enzymatically recycled polyester. “This capsule product is a first step along this journey, helping us test and learn as we continue to advance circularity, which signals exciting possibilities for all industries looking to shift to more circular models,” Yogendra said in a press release.
While it might take awhile to fully integrate the technology across Lululemon leggings and their other range of products, there are several items made from recycled polyester for fans of the brand and the planet to buy and enjoy now. Be warned- most of the items aren’t made from 100% recycled materials like the limited-edition anorak. But even an item made from 50% recycled polyester is better than 100% virgin polyester.
Elsewhere, Lululemon is keeping true to its goal to use more renewable and natural materials like cotton and linen. This month, the brand launched its linen collection featuring a range of shirts, shorts, and skirts in the breathable fabric. However, closer examination shows these pieces are made from recycled polyester and a little as 10% linen and 23% cotton. Thankfully, when it comes to cotton, the brand seems to stay true to the description. The Cates Cotton T-Shirt is made from 100% Pima Cotton.
Collaborations with startups like Samsara Eco and impact goals are great to read about, but it’s overshadowed when items labeled as ‘linen’ contain less than 10% of the material. Despite the glossy headlines about investing in an innovative recycling startup, a majority of the new items available on the website are still made from 100% polyester, nylon, and elastane. It’s important to keep this in mind when shopping the brand, to reduce buying virgin polyester (plastic) clothing.
How To Shop Lululemon Sustainably
As customers we can be enthusiastic about a brand’s initiative towards repairing, recycling, using more natural materials, investing in renewable energy, and other environmental initiatives. Yet, when it’s apparent a brand still has a long way to go when it comes to mitigating its role in fashion’s biggest problems like a reliance on fossil fuels and plastic waste- we can cautiously cheer from the side. And, with a large portion of its products still featuring virgin polyester and nylon materials, shoppers searching for sustainable athleisure wear pieces, would do better to invest in cotton staples and cheer on Lululemon from the side.
If you’re a fan of the brand, and adamant about buying their cool tees or yoga pants, read the labels and only buy items made from recycled or natural materials. When an item has a rip, tear, or split seam, send it to one of their stores to be repaired. You can also write to the brand and ask about their sustainability measures and express how you’d like to see more sustainable materials- 100% linen or organic cotton- used in their collections.
Lululemon is a major player in the athleisure wear space with $10 billion in revenue in 2024. Its actions can have a domino effect if other brands mimic its shift to recycled materials. The more brands that move away from the take-make-waste model for a circular one, the more we can solve some of fashion’s biggest problems, one recycled fiber at a time. Remember what we said earlier about – “next wave of sportswear could be waste free, toxin-free, and maybe even net-positive?” It’s brands like Lululemon that will play a major role in the future of sportswear and how ultimately whether or not the industry will be better for the environment.