Recycling has inspired a range of apparel brands, including Levi’s, H&M, Nike and PUMA to name but a few, which launched a plethora of dedicated projects around the globe, creating new items from old things and encouraging people to participate. PUMA, which created Clever Little Bag and Re-Suede shoe, has recently launched another recycling project, the campaign dubbed PUMA Bring Me Back Program, inviting people to donate their old clothing and footwear to a good cause—contributing to a healthier environment—instead of sending it to the landfill.

Photo: The Bring Me Back program, www.puma.com/bringmeback

There are several ways the contributed items—clean apparel, footwear and accessories like tote bags or purses—will be treated after getting into the Bring Back Bin, which can be found at one of the participating retail venues. According to the dedicated online hub, “items are sorted and graded through I-Collect to over 400 criteria so there’s no waste. Each item gets a new life, whether it is re-used, up-cycled for industrial use, or recycled and turned into raw materials to produce new products.”

The core idea of the project is that it helps put the materials, which we have used, back in the nature—“we don’t steal from nature, but borrow.” Visitors to the dedicated website are able to see what kind of ‘straight from the PUMA bin’ items, read the Q&A section, share their own story about their jeans or snickers, which are now donated to the program, and learn what life the old items will live after recycling. The program was launched in April across Germany, and the brand promises to roll it out across several other countries in fall, with the global launch of the initiative slated for January 2013.

“On our mission to become the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle company in the world, we are constantly working on solutions that aim at reducing the environmental impact that PUMA as a company leaves behind on our planet. With our Bring Me Back Program, we are pleased to target for the first time ever the massive amounts of waste sportlifestyle products leave behind at their end-of-life phase when consumers dispose them and they end up on landfills or in waste incineration plants,” commented Franz Koch, CEO of PUMA.