Subway unveils its uniforms made from recycled bottle plastic

Since October 1, 2023, employees of Subway’s 400 French restaurants have swapped their uniforms for new outfits produced from recycled bottle plastic. I subscribe

A uniform made from recycled plastic? This is what employees of Subway’s 400 French restaurants now wear, since October 1st – as well as all the markets and restaurants that make up the EMEA zone. The restaurant brand has therefore decided to swap the old uniforms for outfits produced from recycled bottle plastic. Polyester, the main material of this new uniform, comes from recycled plastic bottles that have been collected, cut into flakes, then transformed into fiber threads. More than forty bottles are needed to put together a complete outfit which includes six pieces: a green t-shirt for team members, a black polo shirt for managers, two types of aprons (one long and one short), a cap and a bandana. The aprons, caps and bandanas are made from 100% polyester and the t-shirts and polo shirts also contain BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) cotton for greater daily comfort. You need 12 bottles for the long apron, 8 for the short, 8 for the polo, 6 for the t-shirt, 3 for the cap and 5 for the bandana. These professional clothing and accessories were created after 18 months of testing. Designed according to “Work Wear” standards, the pieces are, according to the brand, “thicker, more resistant and more comfortable”.

Old “recycled” uniforms

“These new uniforms (…) are the modern expression of the brand’s codes and our desire to be even more committed to environmental issues, explains Sandra Chassan, general manager France, Belgium, Luxembourg of Subway, in a press release. Comfortable, CSR, trendy uniforms, it is above all a pride of belonging that we wanted to bring to the brand’s employees.”

So what to do with the old uniforms? Among the 260 franchisees who operate the brand in France, several have set up local initiatives to give a second life to old uniforms, says Subway, namely donations or transformation into maintenance and cleaning fabrics. At the national level, Subway has set up a collection for all other restaurants to recycle uniforms and give them a solidarity function during deployment. This transformation will be effective at the beginning of 2024.

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