UNIFI®, Makers of REPREVE®, Commits to Transforming the Equivalent of 1.5 Billion T-Shirts Worth of Textile and Yarn Waste by FY2030 in New Sustainability Snapshot

February 28, 2024 at 08:00 AM EST

Company affirms textile-to-textile recycling ambitions, waste reduction progress, and future milestones

UNIFI, Inc. (NYSE: UFI) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “UNIFI”), makers of REPREVE and one of the world’s leading innovators in recycled and synthetic yarns, today released its Sustainability Snapshot for FY2023. The Snapshot shares impactful updates on UNIFI’s innovative sustainability mission, waste reduction achievements, and future goals. With its release, UNIFI debuted its pioneering T-shirt equivalent metric and set an ambitious textile-to-textile recycling target to transform the equivalent of 1.5 billion T-shirts worth of textile and yarn waste into new products by FY2030.

“Our fourth annual sustainability publication showcases UNIFI’s continuous progress and ongoing commitment to setting and exceeding new sustainability goals," said Eddie Ingle, Chief Executive Officer of Unifi, Inc. “In 2023, we made significant strides in recycling volume, waste reduction, and strategy refinement. We look forward to building upon our goal of making waste useful at UNIFI.”

UNIFI’s FY2023 Sustainability Snapshot highlights include:

Committed to transforming the equivalent of 1.5 billion T-shirts worth of textile and yarn waste by FY2030, effectively doubling the Company’s achievement of 750 million T-shirt equivalents through FY2023
Set goal of 30% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by FY2030**
Pledged to achieve zero non-compliant water discharges annually according to local, state, and national regulations or permitting
Reiterated the commitment to divert 50 billion landfill-bound plastic bottles by December 2025 and announced reaching a milestone of 38 billion bottles in FY2023
Reaffirmed its commitment to REPREVE Fiber comprising a significant portion of FY2025 revenue and shared 30% FY2023 revenue progress metric
Reduced landfill waste by 93% in the past year at its Central American production site
Reduced landfill waste by 55% in the past year at its Brazilian production site

UNIFI’s FY2023 Sustainability Snapshot builds upon the disclosures shared in FY2022 and underscores the Company’s commitment to transparency. The Snapshot has been guided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) frameworks.

More information on UNIFI’s commitment to sustainable business practices and progress can be found in the full snapshot.

About UNIFI, Inc.

UNIFI, Inc. (NYSE: UFI) is a global textile solutions provider and one of the world's leading innovators in manufacturing synthetic and recycled performance fibers. Through REPREVE®, one of UNIFI's proprietary technologies and the global leader in branded recycled performance fibers, UNIFI has transformed more than 40 billion plastic bottles to date into recycled fiber for new apparel, footwear, home goods, and other consumer products. UNIFI continually innovates technologies to meet consumer needs in moisture management, thermal regulation, antimicrobial protection, UV protection, stretch, water resistance, and enhanced softness. UNIFI collaborates with many of the world's most influential brands in the sports apparel, fashion, home, automotive, and other industries. For more information about UNIFI, visit www.unifi.com.

*“T-shirt equivalents” refers to the weight of material equal to that of a single polyester T-shirt.

**Scope 1 reflects direct GHG emissions from owned or controlled sources and Scope 2 reflects indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity. “Intensity” refers to the normalization of our Scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions against the revenue for our Americas and Brazil business segments.