At RE ZRO®, we know we're not the only ones out there trying to make products with better solutions for the planet. We are always trying to encourage others to join us in our efforts to create better solutions for the planet, without compromising on performance.

We recently wrote about partners and brands doing good things across our wider industry, but there are still so many more worth shouting out. This time, we're zooming in specifically on ingredient technology brands.

Being an ingredient technology brand ourselves, celebrating progress made by others in our space matters to us, progress happens through collaboration. Here are five brands we admire, and what makes each of them stand out.

Bcomp

Starting with Swiss company Bcomp, they are a leading provider of natural fibre reinforcements for high-performance applications. Their work has proven that natural fibre composites can hold their own at the highest levels of engineering.

They have two main technologies, the first is their ampliTex™, which offers options varying from dry fibres to prepregs and thermoplastic variants with PP (ampliTex PP™).

The second is their powerRibs™ reinforcement grid, this is available in dry and thermoplastic versions. Their powerRibs™ technology is inspired by leaf veins, allowing the performance of the natural fibre parts to match that of carbon in stiffness and weight.

Both technologies can be used individually or in combination.

Their ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ technologies have found their way into Formula 1 seats with McLaren, bumpers with Mercedes-AMG, and race cars with BMW M Motorsport and Porsche. It's a genuinely impressive reminder that sustainable materials aren't a compromise on performance; in the right hands, they're a genuine engineering upgrade.

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Gen Phoenix

Moving on to Gen Phoenix. Armed with an attitude of embracing curiosity and creating change, their product journey starts where most end, or at least get forgotten about.

Gen Phoenix regenerates the waste parts of the leather industry: the wet blue offcuts and the post-industrial leather. These would otherwise just be discarded, but instead, Gen Phoenix breaks them down into their fibres (with the help of recycled water) before building them back up into premium materials.

Their materials have found homes with Dr. Martens footwear and Coach's Coachtopia line, proving that circularity and premium quality aren't mutually exclusive. And, having existed since 2007, at almost 20 years old Gen Phoenix proves that circularity isn’t a new concept, and something that can be achieved, maintained and successful for decades.

Yulex

Neoprene has been the wetsuit industry's default for decades, since hitting the market people have loved its warmth and durability. But, neoprene is petroleum based, and consumers are looking for better alternatives.

That’s where Yulex comes in. Their plant-based, deforestation-free natural rubber comes from partner plantations that are certified by PEFC and FSC, internationally recognised forest certification programs. Yulex have a range of materials on offer, these include YULASTIC® the world’s first plant-based, 100% biobased, natural rubber mono-filament - a replacement for spandex/elastane and YULEX® Foam - The world’s first natural, plant-based replacement for neoprene & geoprene.

Not only this, Yulex has become the material of choice for Patagonia and Decathlon, offering equal (or better) performance without the fossil fuel footprint. Another company once again proving that responsible choices don’t have to come with the trade off.

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Re:Down®

Now onto Re:Down®, a company created from the mutual desire of two textile professionals to create better solutions.

Re:Down® collects down, feathers and wool from end-of-life jackets, duvets, and sleeping bags, and gives them a second life. They have two products Re:Down and Re:Wool - both performing to a high standard, with zero new animal input. Their philosophies of traceability, sincere partnership and zero waste create a solution that offers a responsible alternative to virgin materials, at the same quality and performance.

It's the kind of closed-loop thinking we love to see, and their expansion into recycled wool insulation shows that this brand isn't slowing down.

Amphico

UK-based Amphico is tackling one of the trickiest problems in performance textiles: waterproof, breathable fabric that's actually recyclable.

Generally, due to their desirable qualities of waterproofing and durability, manufacturers have turned to PFAS in their clothing. Not Amphico. Their Amphitex™ membrane ditches the harmful PFAS chemicals, and is built instead as a mono-material system that's genuinely designed for circularity.

Amphico doesn't stop there, however. Additionally, Amphico is tackling the high water usage in dying with their waterfree Amphicolour™ . Amphicolor™ is a predictive colour intelligence platform that enables waterless colour through weaving. By pairing physical colour measurement with machine learning and digital simulation, it forecasts how colour will appear once woven. This innovative process offers the creative flexibility that solution dyeing's early palette lock-in typically restricts, without sacrificing the environmental gains of avoiding water- and chemical-heavy processes.

As a relatively young, UK-grown company doing genuinely novel material science, this is one to watch.

Why this matters to us

We haven’t made this list because we think we know it all, instead we share it because we know we're part of a bigger movement, and can learn valuable lessons from other brands who put better practices at the core of their processes.

Every brand here is asking the same question we ask ourselves every day at RE ZRO®: how do we make things better, without asking anyone to sacrifice performance to do it? Watching the wider industry answer that question in so many different ways is genuinely exciting, and these are just a few examples of companies doing it right.

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