Ester Industries, an Indian manufacturer of polyester films and specialty polymers, announced that its joint venture partner, Loop Industries, has signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with a global sports and athletic brand for the supply of Loop PET Fiber Grade resin.

Under a multi-year commercial framework, the brand intends to offtake up to 15,000 metric tons of Loop resin annually. The resin will be supplied from the upcoming manufacturing facility in India operated by ELITe (Ester Loop Infinite Technologies), the 50:50 joint venture between Ester Industries and Loop Industries.

The prospective agreement marks a further commercial milestone for ELITe, coming on the heels of an earlier agreement with the sportswear company Nike. With this new LOI, a substantial portion of the planned annual capacity of the upcoming facility in India is now covered by commitments from global sports brands, well ahead of commercial start-up.

“We are pleased to share that our JV partner, Loop Industries, has secured interest from another global brand for the upcoming ELITe facility,” said Arvind Singhania, chairman, Ester Industries. “With Nike already on board as our anchor customer, this second commitment from a sports brand reaffirms the strong market demand for circular, textile-to-textile recycled polyester, and further validates ELITe’s strategic position in accelerating sustainable manufacturing globally.”

Daniel Solomita, founder and chief executive officer of Loop Industries, said, “This agreement is a strong validation of our technology’s ability to deliver virgin-quality, sustainable resin at commercial scale. As we move ELITe towards operations in 2028, growing interest from global brands reinforces the demand we’re seeing for infinitely recyclable PET, and strengthens the long-term commercial case for this facility.”

Expected to become operational in 2028, the ELITe facility will use Loop’s proprietary depolymerization technology to convert 100% textile polyester waste streams into virgin-quality monomers DMT and MEG, which will then be polymerized into polyester resin. According to the company, initial resin testing and feedstock validation work has already produced positive preliminary results, paving the way for full material qualification and long-term supply chain integration with global brand partners.

The collaboration underscores a shared vision to scale circular textile manufacturing, reduce dependence on virgin fossil fuel-based polyester, and build low-carbon supply chains across global markets.

According to the company, ELITe’s India facility remains on track, with land acquisition expected to conclude within the next two to three months. Following completion of the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) by Tata Consulting Engineers, ELITe has awarded the detailed engineering contract to Toyo Engineering India.