The partnership moves recycled polyamide 6 from concept and outerwear trials toward one of fashion’s most technically demanding product categories.
Swedish fashion company Lindex has partnered with BASF to introduce loopamid®, BASF’s textile-to-textile recycled polyamide 6, into the lingerie sector. The first Lindex lingerie styles using loopamid are planned for launch in early 2027, marking a notable step in applying circular synthetic materials to intimate apparel, where performance, comfort, stretch recovery and durability requirements are high.
Why lingerie matters
Polyamide is an important material in lingerie because it offers softness, strength, shape retention and compatibility with stretch constructions. But it is also a difficult material category to circularise, especially when garments contain elastane, dyes, trims and blended components.
For Lindex, the collaboration extends its work beyond recycled and lower-impact cellulosic fibres into synthetic materials. The company has set a target for 100% of its materials to be recycled or sustainably sourced by the end of 2026; in 2024, that figure stood at 88%.
Closing the polyamide loop
BASF describes loopamid as a recycled polyamide 6 made entirely from textile waste, including post-industrial and post-consumer sources. The technology is designed to process polyamide textile waste that is otherwise difficult to recycle, including blended fabrics, while maintaining properties comparable to virgin polyamide 6. BASF also says the material can support multiple recycling cycles.
That matters because much apparel recycling still remains fibre-downcycling, mechanical shredding, or limited to cleaner mono-material streams. Chemical recycling routes such as loopamid aim to recover higher-quality polymer inputs from more complex textile waste, which could make closed-loop applications more commercially realistic.
Partnership across the value chain
Anna-Karin Dahlberg, Chief Sustainability Officer at Lindex, said the company’s scale in lingerie gives it both responsibility and opportunity to reduce reliance on virgin materials. BASF’s Dag Wiebelhaus, innovation lead for loopamid, said the goal is to “fully close the loop for polyamide textiles.”
The next test will be scale. If loopamid performs reliably in lingerie, it could open a wider pathway for recycled polyamide in underwear, swimwear, hosiery, activewear and other stretch-intensive apparel categories.
