Sustainable PLA based Hockey and other sport clothing (SPLASH)

Project Objective: The aim of this project is to fully evaluate the feasibility of sportswear made with PLA, including its recycling.

Project Partners: Dyecoo Textile Systems, Stichting Fabriek Fris, Optima-Textiles, Fikagear

Project Timeline: 1 June 2022 – 30 June 2023

Summary

60% of the people in the Netherlands do sports. There are almost 10,000,000 people who exercise every week (source: NOCNSF 2020). These athletes buy large quantities of (sports) textiles to use and then discard. Every year, the Dutch throw almost 140 million kilos of textile into the clothes bins; that is approximately 25 items of clothing, of which probably one or more sports uniforms. Sportswear is estimated at 10% of the total. However, consumers are becoming increasingly aware that the massive, rapid production, use and disposal of (sports) clothing leads to, among other things, CO2 emissions, plastic soup and pollution of soil and water.

In the case of this project, this will include prototyping, demonstrations, pilot development, and testing and validation in environments that are representative of functioning under real-world conditions, with the main objective of making further technical improvements to products, processes or services that are not largely fixed. This includes producing and knitting textiles for sportswear, dyeing yarns, cutting and assembling the textiles, analyzing heat transfers that fit into the circular concept and packaging, distribution and return logistics. Ultimately, making and testing finished prototypes (with labels, borders, etc.) is also part of the desired outcome. Then comes experimental confirmation that these clothes are also fully recyclable until the evaluation. This total evaluation must be of sufficient quality that a decision can be taken on the basis of it for commercialization.

The desired outcome is a technically successful evaluation, so that a business plan is developed with the participants and this can then also be implemented.

Support

We are grateful for the support we receive from the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland.