Unitex unveils its most sustainable circular and warp knit collection for the sports and outdoors market at ISPO Munich, featuring advanced eco-friendly materials and innovative partnerships for a cleaner textile future.

Combining sustainability with performance textiles can be challenging. Unitex has pursued its green vision and is launching innovative knits with high-level performance and solid and more sustainable processes for Fall/Winter 26/27 in conjunction with its “Green your life” goal.

Premium brand ingredients ensure a transparent alliance to cleaner products, with leading names featuring in the latest sports and outdoors collection from Unitex, a global partner with Hyosung Performance Textiles. Lycra, Nilit, Polygiene and HeiQ are just some of the ingredients used to create stylish and functional fabrics with a more sustainable core, guaranteed performance, transparency and traceability. Unitex is also partners with the Textile Exchange and Bluesign, adding additional accreditation to their sustainable journey.

The sports and outdoors business continues to grow, with health, wellness and outdoors activities coming onto consumers’ radar. As such, circular and warp knitter Unitex has also formed a collaboration with international textile trend consultant Louisa Smith to define how the market in terms of consumer attitudes and trends, combined with internal textile developments.

The information comprises four key Autumn/Winter 26/27 directions, and highlights emerging consumer attitudes and target markets. The fabric developments combine sustainability and performance with bio-based synthetics in nylon and nylon 6.6, mono fabrics, dope-dyed yarns and recycled yarns, with the introduction bio-degradable synthetics, that help combat microfiber pollution.

On a functionality level, moisture management, quick drying and increasing interest in thermal regulating materials for base layers to the outer are all highlighted. New for the season is a durable water repellant (DWR) yarn from Water Pass, selected by the ISPO Textrends jury, that creates the perfect warp knit for additional protection, to the four-way stretch it provides.

Partnerships for cleaner products

Other developments to be awarded at ISPO Textrends include a double-sided warp knit comprised of Sorona, the bio-based synthetics made from plant-based ingredients. The fabric is inherently soft and stain resistant, eliminating the need for additional finishes, and has a heat generating functionality.

One contentious area in the industry has been microfiber pollution, where fibers are infiltrating our water and food systems through home launderings. Unitex has worked with ingredient brand Ciclo, a new bio-degradable synthetic ingredient that can accelerate the biodegradability of micro fibers. This development has also been awarded to Unitex at this season’s ISPO Textrends.

Since its formation in 2012, the Fuzhou-based factory has focused on a cleaner textile process. Utilizing renewable energy in the form of wind turbines and solar panels is an integral part of their sustainable story, receiving the award for the China National Level Green factory in 2022.

In engaging in a vertical efficiency, Unitex opened its first fully automated garment factory in 2023, allowing a smoother sourcing experience for customers, to complement the established Design Centre in Shanghai. Now it is possible to source the performance fabrics and garment manufacturing under one roof with complete transparency, an important aspect with the Digital Product Passport coming into play.

Unitex is investing in some of the most efficient equipment globally, from Karl Mayer machines to Italian Danitech’s water-saving dyeing machines and Datacolor lab technology. The entire supply chain has some form of sustainable solutions, from the electric transport at the textile plant to the recycled card used for the sample headers for the sample collection.

 

Photo: Unitex