Gen Phoenix Announces the Launch of the Aviation Industry’s First Fully Recyclable Aircraft Dress Cover

Gen Phoenix, a multi-award winning leader in sustainable material innovation, in partnership with Sabeti Wain Aerospace and Doy Design, is proud to announce the launch of the aviation industry’s first fully recyclable aircraft dress cover.

The Circular Dress Cover is a breakthrough closed-loop solution that allows airlines to recycle 100% of their end-of-life seat covers into new seat cover material with no compromise on quality, durability or certification requirements.

This first-of-its-kind, fully circular cover is upholstered in Helios, a brand-new material innovation developed by Gen Phoenix. Helios is made using recycled end-of-life waste in a closed-loop process, that can continue to be recycled again and again.

The Circular Dress Cover marks a paradigm shift in aircraft seating sustainability. Current seat covers are traditionally made from a mix of non-recyclable materials that are hard to separate and end up in landfills or incinerated after their typical service life. In contrast, Gen Phoenix’s patent-pending technology allows airlines’ old seat covers to be fully recycled, in their entirety, and repurposed at the end of their lives through the company’s innovative process.

“Airlines are under immense pressure to reduce waste and meet aggressive net-zero emissions targets,” says Chris Horn, CTO and GM Seating of Gen Phoenix. “Helios, our latest material innovation, provides a revolutionary new circular solution for airlines looking to eliminate a significant waste stream and lower the carbon footprint of aircraft interiors. It’s a win for sustainability and a win for airlines.”

Early life cycle analysis shows the Circular Dress Cover reduces the carbon emissions footprint by approximately 30% as compared to traditional dress cover manufacturing. For a typical airline with 180 aircraft, it could prevent over 3 tons of landfill waste per year.

Created with 100% components designed for recyclability, the Circular Dress Cover meets all performance specifications for aircraft seating, including the 12-second vertical burn certification. A new bio-based coating provides a premium soft touch for a luxury passenger experience, while maintaining all the required durability.

Through a take-back programme, Gen Phoenix will collect and recycle their customer’s dress covers at the end of their useful life, breaking them down and building them back up again with no compromise to performance or passenger experience.

“We worked with Gen Phoenix to develop a laminated system that could be fully recycled, using an alternative to the traditional foam stack up,” says Saeid Sabeti, Director, Sabeti Wain Aerospace. “Gen had successfully proven the process to recycle these dress covers, and this was one of the major technical breakthroughs from the team.”

Gen Phoenix, Sabeti Wain Aerospace and Doy Design will debut the Circular Dress Cover at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, with widespread commercial availability targeted for early 2025.

The Circular Dress Cover will be featured on the Ultra-slim, low carbon seat concept designed by Mark Ryan of Doy Design, which has been adapted in collaboration with Impressions Technologies, to demonstrate the possibilities of recycling the entire seat frame and structure at the end of its life. This has been achieved by manufacturing the seat backs out of recycled aluminium and employs a new pressing technology (Hot Form Quench) from Impression Technologies. This allows for high strength and deep draw parts to be used in a monocoque construction which reduces part count and weight.

“The Ultra Slim Low Carbon Demonstrator Seat is an exercise in making design decisions that prioritise circularity and reduce the embedded carbon of the materials used,” says Doy Ryan of Doy Design. “One of the most difficult areas of an aircraft seat to recycle is the cushion and dress cover system. To solve this problem, we needed to reevaluate the construction of the system and design a product with recycling in mind. We worked closely with SabetiWain Aerospace to develop a cushion system that can be readily disassembled at the end of life whilst delivering a long-lasting product.”

The Aircraft Interior Recycling Association (AIRA) employed their AIRA Q system to all the materials in the seat. They calculated the embedded carbon and identified the material for every individual part to support its recycling at the end of life.

“One of the successes of this project has been the collaboration of very different businesses who have a genuine passion to make a difference,” says Mark Ryan. “The seat is just a catalyst to focus attention, the real win is getting people to work together to generate innovative solutions and push for a more sustainable approach.”

Gen Phoenix is delivering a new generation of materials for the next era of sustainability. Through a revolutionary circular process that earned the brand recognition as one of ‘Time’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies’ and Fast Company’s ‘2023 World Changing Ideas’, Gen Phoenix rescues leather offcuts destined for landfill and regenerates them into a premium recycled leather material coveted by the world’s most iconic brands for its beauty and durability. Since 2007, Gen Phoenix has diverted thousands of tons of material from landfill. Adaptable to a wide variety of feedstocks, Gen Phoenix’s patented technology platform will make material circularity possible at an epic scale.

Doy Design has a crystal-clear vision: to develop groundbreaking, sustainably-led products and solutions that make a tangible difference to people’s lives, by responding to challenges and opportunities in a rapidly changing world. We aim to deliver this through innovative design, artistry and collaboration with our customers, industry specialists and trusted business partners. Doy Design has an affinity for the use of cutting-edge technologies and sustainable materials, collaborating with specialists as part of a multi-disciplinary team, to ensure that each project achieves its full potential.

Located in London, UK, Doy Design has over 30 years extensive experience in the automotive and aviation sectors, from OEM production projects to special vehicles and aftermarket modification.

Sabeti Wain Aerospace started out as a small clothing manufacturer in Iran, a country born of revolution and torn by religious differences. Forced to leave their country and roots, the company took their first step in a journey that would eventually see them reunited with their family in the UK. Here they were able to start their business again, and after years of hard work and sheer determination, built it into the success it is today. Now Sabeti Wain is not only the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of aircraft seat covers, with production facilities in the UK, Dubai and America, it also represents the highest quality benchmark – effectively the standard that other manufacturers seek to emulate, and by which they are judged.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Impression Technologies is a world leader in lightweighting solutions for automotive, aerospace, mass transit and consumer product sectors through the application of its Hot Form Quench (HFQ®) technology for aluminium hot forming. We provide a complete aluminium light-weighting solution for any industry sector – from feasibility studies to design, prototyping, and production. Our unique blend of engineering expertise, metallurgical knowledge, advanced hot forming techniques, and simulation capabilities –the HFQ® technology platform – is positioned to become the global benchmark for lighter, stronger, cost-efficient aluminium structures.

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