Fast Company reports that the four tons of plastic waste discarded daily on Costa Rica's beaches are being collected by Bionic, a company specialized in transforming plastic waste into Gore-Tex fabrics. Patagonia will use this material as a heat insulator, which will be implemented in its brand new Stormshadow Parka.

Costing 899 USD, the jacket uses the recycled plastic for 50% of its fibers and it happens to be the warmest jacket yet from the American company, which manufactures this model without using "forever chemicals" for its waterproof exterior.

Previously, it was believed that recycled fibers weren't as well-performing as those made from virgin materials, although this changed and experts at Patagonia believe that marine waste-derived fabrics can be just as good, while saving the environment.

Mark Little, Patagonia’s global product director of men’s outdoor clothing, who's been working on the new parka for the past two years, argues that its durability and versatility should make it long lasting, saying that "if you buy this jacket, we don’t want to see you again for a decade. We’re committed to building timeless pieces that will last a long time both from a durability perspective, but also from a styling perspective."

Patagonia believes that protecting the environment is one of its priorities and in order to ensure that all upcoming leaders will follow this vision, the company created the Patagonia Purpose Trust. It has the role to ensure that all future executives will be making decisions that benefit the environment.

Patagonia became one of the first fashion brands to use recycled plastic from discarded bottles back in 2000, which is why Mark explains that "we didn’t want to hang our hats on recycled polyesters and nylons. To be disruptive, we wanted to actually divert plastic from oceans."

In order to do this, Patagonia teamed up with Bionic, a company founded back in 2009. Bionic hires locals in Central America and Asia, where plastic waste washes ashore, in order to have it collected.

The collected waste must be processed and purified in order to be usable in the fashion industry, as per the CEO of Bionic, Tim Coombs. "There’s dirt, rain, salt that degrades the plastic. So, we needed engineering expertise to purify the plastic to create fibers that will actually perform", he says.

Patagonia established partnerships with both Bionic and Gore-Tex to facilitate a process that will allow scaling the use of marine-derived plastic waste, so that other brands can jump ship and embrace more sustainable designs.