Eight million metric tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every year! It is a staggering amount to consider! However, there is hope as large companies take pledges to become more sustainable. Adidas are trying to do their part to re-use plastic and excitingly, Adidas launched an entire tennis clothing line made from Parley Ocean Plastic in Australia for the Australian Open! Parley is a non for profit that works toward preventing plastic entering our oceans and instead reinvents ways to re-use plastic. The Parley tennis clothing line is transforming plastic into high performance sportswear that is still price competitive for consumers.
The new line of tennis apparel has been worn at this year’s Australian Open by a suite of players including Sascha Zverev, Caroline Woznaiacki and Angelique Kerber. This initiative is aimed at creating change and to inspire the industry, athletes and fans to better protect the ocean.
Tennis star Sascha Zverev mentioned that: “Melbourne is one of my favourite cities, I love playing here and being close to the ocean. That’s why I’m excited by this collaboration between Adidas and Parley for the Oceans – this collection looks great and has all of the technical features to support my performance on court but is also part of a movement to create change and protect the oceans”.
The concept with Adidas was first trialled in 2016 with running shoes. Plastic was turned into the Ultra Boost running shoe which is made of 11 plastic bottles! Since launching Adidas and Parley for the Oceans have sold over 7 million pairs of Ultra-Boost shoes. They knew they were onto something! Their cost of manufacturing did not increase so they have been able to market the items at affordable prices. Adidas is aiming to completely remove virgin plastic from its production chain in five years!
Bravo Adidas, we are loving your style! Thanks for making clothing made from plastic popular! #adidasparley
https://www.parley.tv/updates/2019/1/8/play-for-the-oceans-adidas-tennis-x-parley