Today's article in BusinessWeek discusses how Patagonia must tackle very daunting technical challenges in order to boost the percentage of recyclable products they offer from 47% to 100% by the year 2010.
The problem lies with the nylon fabric; unfortunately Patagonia only has one supplier of recycled nylon that meets its requirements. When the yarn from the fabric was spun, it led to unsatisfactory results. This in turn has led Patagonia to look into different fabrics to substitute nylon. They have collaborated with different partners across the globe to produce high-quality, recycled nylon filament yarn. It will be interesting to see if Patagonia will be able to boost the percentage of recycled products to 100% by their 2010 deadline.