Picture Organic Clothing display at ISPO Munich 2020 © Anne Prahl.

Anne Prahl reports from Munich

At this year’s ISPO Munich tradeshow, the sports and outdoor industry declared war on waste, whether it is single use plastics, production or post-consumer textile waste. A broad variety of materials, technologies, products, initiatives and collaborations demonstrated that the industry is finally taking on responsibility for rethinking how we make, consume and dispose of sports and outdoor products.

Eliminating plastic waste

In an expansive sea of displays featuring plastic bottles, fishing nets and turtles, French snow sports company Picture Organic Clothing presented the most compelling message. The company’s ‘Stop Waste’ campaign aims to inspire both industry and consumers to change their plastic consumption and subsequent waste creation. Picture Organic, who were early adopters of working with recycled fabrics, have recently earned B CORP certification and are aiming to eventually cut out any petroleum-based raw materials in favour of fabrics made with plants, such as sugar cane or castor beans.

As recycled polyester fabrics are becoming standard in the industry, it is still difficult to source 100% recycled trims, such as zips. Many trim suppliers have managed to create recycled drawcords, drawcord stoppers and zip tapes but the teeth appear to be much harder to manufacture from plastic waste. Therefore, it was great to see that Chinese trim supplier Shun Hing Zipper Co. Ltd have developed recycled zips with both the coil zip teeth and tapes made from discarded plastic bottles.

Read the full report on our Innovation in Textiles website