Arc’teryx is redesigning every product it makes to be fully recyclable

A decade ago, the best way to sell a product was to say it was sustainable. A new crop of startups promised a greener future through merino wool sneakers, dresses made from deadstock, and rain jackets without a trace of virgin plastic in them. Today, the fashion industry feels like a graveyard to these idealistic brands. Allbirds, once valued at more than $4 billion, was forced into a fire-sale acquisition. Amour Vert filed for bankruptcy. Everlane was acquired by an ultrafast fashion brand. It sometimes feels like sustainable clothing is a lost cause. But behind the scenes a cohort of heritage brands are still pouring time and capital into curbing the environmental footprint of their clothes and supply chains. Arc’teryx is among them. The Vancouver-based brand that is grounded in mountaineering has spent the past three years developing an ambitious circularity program called System 0. Today, it announces this new program with the launch of a fully recyclable hard shell jacket called Sperro SV. It’s designed to be a proof of concept for the brand’s broader transformation, coupling technical performance with materials that can be fully recycled at the end of their lives. In the yea…