Sustainable & Recycled Sportswear

Sustainable & Recycled Sportswear

Sustainable Sportswear

We are huge advocates for designing and producing sustainable sportswear for our clients. We hope sustainability becomes the “Norm” in the near future with all brands taking more care of our planet by managing how and what their sportswear products are made from.

To produce sustainable sportswear we need to take into account many aspects of the supply chain, from fabric, components, trim, waste, power, labour and freight. Unfortunately, producing any sportswear, regardless of these factors, is not 100% sustainable as producing any garment will take resources from the planet in some way, shape or form.

There are however many things we can build into the process of development, to ensure that the products are as sustainable as possible and making a minimal impact. Selecting materials, components and trims is the first aspect, and at Blue Associates Sportswear, we work with over 100 performance activewear fabric mills around the world that all now have sustainable or recycled fabric options. By selecting the right fibre blend and sourcing fabrics that are local to the factory, we are able to reduce the carbon footprint. 

“Sustainability is the ability to exist constantly”

There are now many options available, from recycling plastic ocean waste to producing fabrics using natural plant-based fibres, these use a reduced amount of planet resources to grow, and therefore cause no impact to the environment when worn, washed and disposed of. 

We also have a wider variety of trim and components available to us that are made from natural materials or use recycled fibre, again providing a more eco solution than traditional trims. 

Waste is a huge contributor to the process of manufacturing sportswear. The water used to dye and finish fabrics needs to be managed along with chemicals used to produce fabric, trim and components. There are now several measures to make sure these are managed safely through authorised and certified suppliers. 

The labour required to stitch a garment is usually the focus of the brand, however, it only contributes a small percentage of the total work involved in the production of the product. All of our factories are audited on an annual basis to assure that fair wages are paid and that the working conditions, safety measures and hours they work are within the legal requirements. Most of our factories produce for large sportswear brands and many of these conduct their own separate audits as a secondary measure to make sure they are 100% comfortable placing their production within the factory.

​Some of our factories have installed their own energy sources, by utilising solar panels and ground heat source pumps, whilst also reducing their power use by installing new technology and lighting to reduce the amount of power required. 

​If sustainability forms part of your brand’s DNA, then find out more using the links below or contact us for more information.

How to make sustainable sportswear.

Ethical and Sustainable Sportswear Factory

Find out which fibres to use here to produce sustainable sportswear.

RecycleD & Sustainable Sportswear

At Blue Associates Sportswear, we have always focussed on innovation and developing ethically produced sports apparel. Over the last 10 years, this focus has evolved into becoming one of the world’s leading suppliers of recycled and sustainable sportswear.

Every year, 1 million seabirds and marine mammals are killed due to the effects of plastic waste. Scientists estimate that by 2050 there will be more plastic waste than fish in our oceans.

Working with over 100 fabric mills around the globe, we can tap into the latest performance fabrics that have been developed by recycling polyester bottles and plastic waste from oceans and landfills.

Alongside this, we also develop sustainable sportswear using other eco-friendly fibres such as merino wool. We strive to carry this focus through every detail and component of the garment, using recycled polyester and natural fibres to create bespoke trim for badges, labels, buttons, zips etc.

We don’t stop there though. We look at the packaging and offer alternatives to the wasteful plastic bags sportswear usually comes packaged in from the factory. We have packaging solutions that are not only environmentally friendly but have a second use after the consumer has unpacked their new garment.

In the past we have developed cost-effective packaging solutions that garments are packaged in, as they then perform as the garment wash bag, collecting the tiny plastic fibres that get washed into the water system and oceans each time the garment is laundered.

Because we produce all over the world, we can tailor the production of the components, fabrics, trims and labour to be as carbon efficient as possible, reducing the carbon footprint by reducing the miles that fabrics, trims and garments travel before reaching our client.

Utilising recycled fabrics is not a compromise, recycled polyester fibres retain the same performance as virgin polyester, allowing them to continue to wick moisture away from the skin and dry incredibly fast. Another advantage of recycled polyester is that it requires much less power to produce, cleaning up the oceans by removing our plastic waste in doing so.

On average, producing a pair of women’s leggings from recycled polyester instead of virgin polyester will use around 75-85 plastic bottles that have been collected from our oceans.

If you are interested in producing a range of activewear from either recycled polyester or sustainable fibres such as Tencel or merino, please get in touch.

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