Milliken & Company, the textile manufacturer that acquired Polartec last year, has established a partnership with National Geographic to promote the circular economy. This is in keeping with one of the company’s objectives for 2025: to “convene scientists and thought-leaders to advance the goal of solving the plastics’ end-of-life challenge.” The collaboration began last month, when Milliken sponsored a forum on the circular economy at the headquarters of National Geographic in Washington, D.C. (image below). Meanwhile, the knit fleece fabric that Polartec designed to be made of recycled plastic bottles has so far, according to the brand, kept 1.5 billion single-use plastic bottles out of landfills. Some 95 percent of the bottles’ residual matter is used for other products, such as flooring, furniture, insulation, and even horse shoes.
