Making shirts out of bottles
Hi all,
Here's a bit about me: I live in Europe and I have always loved watching and recently playing football (soccer for American readers). I am also a big fan of what Nike is currently doing to be more sustainable. Coincidently, Nike produces football kits for many big teams like Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Juventus (I do not support any of these teams btw, I'm actually a Chelsea FC fan, unfortunatly adidas produces their kits). They also produce kits for national teams such as USA, Brazil and Portugal. Recently, they partnered up with England's national team. England's new kit with Nike looks awesome in my opinion (I like simplicity). It just looks very majestic, a kit that champoions wear.
So, why am I talking about Nike manufacturing football kits? It's because ever since last year, they have manufactured their kits using 96% recycled material. 1 kit uses the polyester fibres of 13 bottles, which I find to be astonishing! Nike collects recycled bottles, shreds them, turns them into thin strings which are used to taylor these fine kits. The polyester obtained from these plastic bottles are not only recycled, but they are also 23% lighter than previous materials. Last year, this practice enabled Nike to re-use 280 million bottles, which is absolutely phenomenal... Nike's method to produce these kits reflect upon the "cradle to cradle" concept we learned in class, except for the fact that bottles are re-used to make sportswear, a product that is so different, which is why this idea of producing shirts out of recycled bottles. These new kits are not only Nike's greenest kits ever, but also the one's that are the most effective for keeping sweat away from athletes' skin. On top of that Nike joined Fair Factory Clearinghouse to ensure that factories producing these kits are not abusing their workers. Nike is certified by ISO 14001, reflecting Nike's efforts towards sustainability. In my opinion, these kits truly reflect on Nike's commitment as a company to become a better corporate citizen.
Sidney
These kits are fascinating, since they are made for water bottles. Like DD said, Nike has soccer jerseys that are made up of water bottles. It is nice to know that Nike is using water bottles and also old Nike shoes to make their own product.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I just wrote about this as well, check it out. We have very similar ideas http://ddthegreeny.blogspot.com/2013/08/killing-two-birds-with-one-stone.html
ReplyDeleteI also posted a picture on my blog on a pair of Nike pants. I think that their efforts are also incredible. Not only are they helping the environment and addressing the issue of plastic bottle use, but also are making better and lighter products!
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