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Recycled TPU

Recycled TPU decreases our dependence on virgin petroleum without sacrificing durability or weather-resistant performance.

Why

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is a crucial part of what makes our Black Hole® products so durable. When applied onto fabric, this laminate coating creates a material that’s extremely weather-resistant and abrasion-resistant, so your gear can withstand the most rugged of travels.

But building a plastic-based finish—one that makes up nearly half the fabric weight in our Black Hole products—means tapping virgin petroleum as a source for raw material. To reduce our reliance on fossil fuels without losing the performance our gear needs, we’re making more products with recycled TPU. It’s the latest step in Patagonia’s path to using 100% preferred materials across our entire line by 2025.

Made from manufacturing waste

In Fall 2022, we began making select Black Hole products with recycled TPU sourced from postindustrial waste, with plans to expand across the Black Hole collection over subsequent seasons.

95%

The amount of recycled TPU, by weight, used across all TPU in our Fall 2024 line.

Where We Are

Nearly all of our Black Hole® collection is made with recycled TPU. In total, recycled TPU accounts for 95% of all TPU, by weight, in our Fall 2024 collection.

What’s Next

We are in the process of converting more of our products to recycled TPU material, but we’re also thinking bigger. Currently, TPU can only be recycled if it’s separated from polyester, but our materials and innovation team is actively working on ways to create a 100% recyclable TPU that can be used again and again.