MATERIAL

Materialien neu denken

A closer look at the materials behind the pieces – and the questions worth asking. Our collections are made from recycled PET. In this story, we follow a plastic bottle on its way to becoming fabric: what the material is, how it is made, what it can do – and where its limits are.

Autor:in

01.09.2026

Lade das IMPARI-Originalfoto im Theme-Editor hoch.

Photo: Fotograf:in · Models: Namen ergänzen

What it is

PET – short for polyethylene terephthalate – is one of the most common plastics in the world. Most of us know it as the clear material of drinks bottles. Chemically, it belongs to the polyester family, which is why the same material can also be spun into fibres and woven into fabric.

Recycled PET, often shortened to rPET, is PET that has already had a first life. Instead of making new plastic from fossil raw materials, existing material is collected, cleaned and processed again. The material itself stays essentially the same – what changes is where it comes from.

At IMPARI, recycled PET is the starting point of our collections. We design and produce every piece in our own studio in Berlin and work with our own prints, so the material is not an afterthought but part of the design from the very first sketch.

Origin & process

The journey from bottle to fabric follows a few basic steps. Used bottles are collected, sorted and separated from labels and caps. They are washed and shredded into small flakes, which are then melted and usually formed into pellets. Melted once more, the material is drawn into fine polyester filaments and spun into yarn – which can be woven or knitted into fabric just like conventional polyester.

From there, the material comes into our studio in Berlin. Our own prints are applied to the fabric, and every piece is cut and sewn in-house. We plan patterns and cuts so that as little fabric as possible is left over.

Alongside our collections, we are working on something larger: through WITH[out]WASTE, we are developing materials from recycled plastics and building new value chains between Berlin and Ghana. This work is still in progress – we will share it here as it develops.

STAGE 01

Bottle

Collected, sorted, cleaned
STAGE 02

Fibre

Shredded, melted, spun into yarn
STAGE 03

Fabric

Woven, printed, cut and sewn

Properties & application

Recycled polyester behaves much like conventional polyester. It is durable, keeps its shape, dries quickly and creases less than many natural fibres. Its surface takes colour and print well – a good base for the bold, graphic prints that run through our collections.

That versatility is why the material appears in very different pieces, from fluid shirts to structured outerwear. Depending on the yarn and the weave, the same raw material can feel smooth and light or dense and protective.

How a piece is cared for makes a real difference to how long it lasts. Wash at low temperatures, turn garments inside out, skip the tumble dryer and iron on a low setting. A laundry bag that catches fibres helps to reduce the microfibres that end up in wastewater. Always follow the care label of the individual piece.

Limits & open questions

Recycled PET gives existing material a second life – but it does not solve every problem. We think the open questions belong in this story too.

**Microfibres.** Like all synthetic fabrics, recycled polyester sheds tiny fibres when it is washed. Recycling does not change that. Careful washing reduces it, but does not prevent it.

**A loop that is not yet closed.** Once a bottle becomes fabric, it usually leaves the bottle cycle for good. Turning clothing back into new fibres is still the exception: globally, less than one percent of the material used to make clothing is recycled into new clothing.

**Recycling has a footprint too.** Collecting, cleaning, melting and spinning still need energy, water and transport. Recycled does not mean without impact.

**Where does it come from?** Recycled content should be traceable from its source to the finished piece. Standards such as the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) exist for exactly this – and it is a question every brand, including us, should be able to answer.

**What we are working on.** These questions are part of why we started WITH[out]WASTE: to develop materials from recycled plastics and to build value chains between Berlin and Ghana, where plastic waste is part of everyday life and only a small share of it is collected for recycling.

Key takeaways

PET bottles and polyester fabric belong to the same material family – that is what makes the journey from bottle to fabric possible.
Recycled polyester performs much like conventional polyester, and careful washing helps every piece last longer.
Recycling is a starting point, not an end point: microfibres, traceability and textile-to-textile recycling remain open questions we are working on.