Innovative Materials & Processes

Infinna™, from the Infinited Fiber Company, is an MMCF made of textile waste. Instead of using wood pulp as a raw material, Infinna™ uses cotton-rich textile waste for fiber-to-fiber regeneration. The fibers are pre-treated and dissolved into powder using carbamation and responsible chemistry. Next, a wet-spinning process (similar to viscose) produces Infinna™ fibers that reduce the depletion of natural resources and textile waste.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Infinna™ to have Recycled Content Standard (RCS) certification. 

CIRCULOSE® is a pulp, made from 100% textile waste that is created by Renewcell and used to produce MMCFs. Fibers made of CIRCULOSE® differ from conventional MMCFs fibers as they partly use recycled pre- and post-consumer cotton textile waste, instead of wood as a raw material. The CIRCULOSE® production process is powered by 100% renewable energy.

Textile waste can be either post or pre consumer waste which are defined as follows:

• Pre-Consumer Recycled Materials – These are materials diverted from waste streams during the manufacturing process. For example, using leftover cutting scraps from manufacturing facilities.
• Post-Consumer Recycled Materials – Materials generated by households or commercial and industrial facilities. When these products can no longer be used for their intended purpose and are recycled, they are then determined to be post-consumer.

Tommy Hilfiger requires recycled CIRCULOSE® material to have a full supply chain of custody or Recycled Content Standard (RCS) certification.

Reycrom™ is a range of dyes made using recycled textile fibers from pre-consumer clothing and manufacturing waste. These fibers are transformed into a fine colored powder that can be used to dye new yarns, fabrics and garments instead of conventional dyes.

• Pre-Consumer Recycled Materials – These are materials diverted from waste streams during the manufacturing process. For example, using leftover cutting scraps from manufacturing facilities when a garment is made.

Tommy Hilfiger requires recycled materials to have Recycled Content Standard (RCS) certification.

Vegea® is an innovative coated fabric that uses oils extracted from leftover grape skins, leaves, and stalks from Italian wineries. These oils are combined with recycled materials to create a coated fabric like polyurethane.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Vegea® to be tested to verify its biobased claims, using carbon-based calculations to identify the percentage of biobased materials in a product.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Vegea® recycled materials have Global Recycled Standard (GRS) or Recycled Content Standard (RCS) certification and must also be combined with a backing fabric of recycled content. 

Appleskin™ is a partially biobased material that uses apple waste like cores and peels from the food industry. The apple waste is ground to a powder that is mixed with polyurethane and then applied onto a recycled material backing to form Appleskin™. The final material is made of at least 20% waste from apples and at least 50% recycled content.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Appleskin™ to have been tested to verify its biobased claims, using carbon-based calculations to identify the percentage of biobased materials in a product.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Appleskin™ recycled materials have Global Recycled Standard (GRS) or Recycled Content Standard (RCS) certification.

Desserto is a partially biobased material that uses cactus leaves. The leaves are harvested, mashed, sun-dried, and ground into a fine powder that serves as the bio-resin that is applied to a recycled backing to form Desserto.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Desserto to have been tested to verify its biobased claims. Biobased reports use carbon-based calculations to identify the percentage of biobased materials in a product.

Tommy Hilfiger requires Desserto recycled materials to have Global Recycled Standard (GRS) or Recycled Content Standard (RCS) certification and must also be combined with a backing fabric of recycled content. 

All circular denim products have been created using a set of Jeans Redesign guidelines from the Ellen McArthur Foundation to reduce waste and protect natural resources, which encompasses principles of circular economy and aim to transform the ways we create jeans.

Circular design is one piece to the much bigger puzzle that is circularity. Denim created in line with these guidelines are made with sustainable materials, clean chemistry, increased durability, and designed for easy disassembly to facilitate easy recycling.

There are three layers to the circular denim design guidelines:

• Layer one is around the extension of the life of the product. We test for longer durability and provide key information on the garment to ensure it is reused, upcycled, or recycled.
• Layer two is focused on the materials of the product to ensure that it can be easily disassembled and recycled. Examples of this include the need for the product to be made with at least 98% cellulose-based fibers (i.e. fibers that are made from plant-based materials such as hemp, linen, and cotton).
• Layer three is concerned with chemicals. It sets specific requirements on the type of processes and chemicals that are banned by chemical industry organizations in addition to legal regulations.

Tommy Hilfiger requires circular denim to be verified against all steps of the Ellen McArthur Jeans Redesign guidelines.