Roger OngJEPLAN, Inc. expanded its textile recovery and recycling initiatives to the Yokohama Marathon 2026, where they set up an on-site upcycling workshop alongside start-line garment collection and recycled race shirts.
There is massive amounts of waste generated at mass-participation road races, one of which is how participants frequently discard warm-up clothes at starting corrals immediately before running. As part of its fifth consecutive year as an official partner of the 30,000-runner marathon, JEPLAN established a dedicated recovery team alongside the race organisers and student non-profit organisation HpRun to gather discarded outerwear at the start.
All apparel recovered at the starting line, as well as used clothing gathered at collection points throughout Yokohama and at the finish venue in Rinko Park, enters the company’s BRING platform. Collected textiles are routed to reuse or processed into BRING Material, a recycled polyester produced from factory scraps and worn garments. The BRING recycling network operated across 2,867 locations throughout Japan (as of 1 October 2026).
JEPLAN has also partnered with Puma Japan to manufacture the event’s official participant t-shirts. The garments use Blank Apparel, an apparel line incorporating 100 percent textile-derived recycled polyester. Complementing the collection operations, the company hosted an upcycling workshop using discarded cloth and yarn cut from old t-shirts to produce accessories such as keychains, bracelets and tassel charms.
JEPLAN intends to continue developing domestic and international partnerships to expand its closed-loop textile recycling infrastructure.
[Reference] PR Times (Japanese)
