Italian warp-knitted textiles manufacturer Pontetorto has won the Performance Days Eco Award for its 6140/Biobased fleece, a microfleece built on bio-based polyester fibres supplied by Finnish company UPM. The award will be presented at Performance Days in Munich on 13 and 14 October 2026.

The fabric sits at the fabric-mill tier of the outdoor, sportswear and performance apparel supply chain. It targets brands seeking lower-impact synthetic alternatives without giving up durability, thermal comfort and technical performance.

What is in the fabric?

The 6140/Biobased microfleece replaces conventional fossil-based raw materials with wood-derived bio-PET. The fibres use raw materials recovered from wood industry residues, including:

• small branches
• leaves
• sawmill by-products

These residues are converted into bio-based polyester feedstocks. Pontetorto, founded in 1952 and known for technical fleece fabrics, says the resulting fabric carries a lower carbon footprint than conventional polyester while retaining the functional properties expected of high-performance fleece.

How is the sustainability claim traceable?

The wood input is sourced from forests certified under FSC and PEFC schemes. That gives buyers two recognised chain-of-custody standards to point to, covering responsible forest management and traceability through the supply chain.

The fibre supply is a confirmed commercial relationship with UPM. The carbon-footprint reduction claim rests on the company's own statement, so specifiers should request supporting data before making downstream marketing claims of their own.

What did the company say?

Marco Toccafondi, general manager of Pontetorto, framed the award as validation of long-running development work. "We accept this award with pride and a sense of responsibility," said Toccafondi. "It is the result of extensive work carried out by a team of passionate professionals with extraordinary expertise."

He added that cutting the company's carbon footprint has long been central to Pontetorto's strategy, pointing to environmental improvements rather than sustainability claims alone.

Why it matters for sourcing

The award signals growing buyer interest in bio-based alternatives to conventional synthetics in outdoor and sportswear. Pontetorto combines renewable raw materials with established polyester processing technology, which matters for scalability: the innovation does not require a new manufacturing route.

Visitors to Performance Days Munich can see the bio-based developments at stands I24–I25.

For sourcing teams, the takeaway is straightforward: a certified, wood-based polyester fleece is now an award-verified option for performance programmes, and specifiers should secure FSC/PEFC chain-of-custody documentation alongside carbon data when adopting it.