#2 How green are Swiss brands?
In the past, sporting good manufacturers’ speeches about sustainability were at most followed by symbolic acts. Today, the increased demand leads brands to rethink both their raw material supply and the manufacturing of their products.
Article writte by Roland Schäfli, initially published on Swiss Golf’s website on 26 April 2024 and reposted here with their kind authorisation. Thank you!
In Switzerland, the number of sporting good manufacturers remains limited. Founded four years ago in Lausanne, Links Social Wear stands out.
© Steven Angrekk
Many golfers feel obliged to leave the course in better condition than they found it. They rake a bunker, replace a divot, repair a pitch mark. But how conscientious are sportsmen and women when it comes to choosing their clothes? If you want to wear a sustainable polo shirt, you have to find the right suppliers - and probably pay a price for it.
American company Radmor, one of the leading sustainable golf brands, recently presented two material options thanks to its RadCycled technology. RadCycled polyester is made from 90% recycled plastic bottles and 10% synthetic stretch fabric, blended with organic Pima cotton from Peru. Radmor replaces synthetic fibers in functional garments with more eco-friendly options such as certified recycled polyester (also known as Repreve), sourced from plastic bottles, or recycled nylon, sourced from fishing nets.
Calvin Green, Linksoul, Travis Mathew are other commendable examples, but brands such as Nike and Puma are now also investing on a large scale in the circular economy. Adidas is considered a forerunner in polyester recycling, already achieving a 99% share of its production - while globally this share is 15%.
“For our “made-to-be-remade” products, subsequent recycling is taken into account right from the design phase,” explains spokesman Stefan Pursche. “The products are made from a single material and can therefore be shredded at the end of their life, then reused in new products.” As part of the New Cotton project launched by Adidas, a collection composed of at least 60% organic cotton has been brought to market. The project aims to transform textile waste into a new cotton-like fiber.
A Swiss startup
In Switzerland, the circle of sustainable sportswear manufacturers is still small. Founded four years ago in Lausanne, Links Social Wear is attracting a lot of interest, as this start-up positions itself in the niche of consumers' growing environmental awareness.
The two young founders spent a long time looking for a suitable fabric manufacturer. “It was almost like detective work, as we limited ourselves to Europe for ecological reasons”, explains Clément Jaton, one of the company's two founders. In our country, the two men couldn't find what they were looking for - or had to give up for financial reasons. They now have their fabric produced in northern Italy, in the family business Maglificio Maggia, which boasts several sustainability certifications.
The fabric is made from 48% lyocell, a regenerated fiber manufactured in Austria using a closed loop production process – resulting in close-to-zero wastage, 48% Bulgarian wool and 4% elastane, a highly stretchable and elastic chemical fiber woven from filaments. The result is a product with low production impact and little need for cleaning. “We tried to do without elastane altogether, but it turned out that the fabric became too dry,” continues Clément Jaton. The garments are designed in St. Gallen.
Ethical business practices
No need to look for plastic buttons on these Swiss products. The search for alternatives led the two founders to Portugal, where buttons are made from the horns of Indian cows.
The manufacture of the polo shirts was entrusted to the Portuguese company Petratex, which holds the important textile label GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), a worldwide standard for textile processing. Such certifications have become increasingly important as the number of “fake recyclers” has risen.
The Swiss startup is also keen to incorporate ethical manufacturing practices. When shirts or caps need embroidering, for example, Links Social Wear subcontracts the work to a workshop for disabled people in Geneva. The young entrepreneurs also eliminate the use of single-use plastics by using biodegradable and compostable labels and recyclable packaging, in association with Almighty Tree, a Swiss organization that plants trees in Switzerland and around the world.
The opportunity of niche production
The idea of setting up a company came to the minds of the two 34-year-old golf enthusiasts from Vaud when they realized that it was virtually impossible to find locally produced, sustainable golf textiles. They soon realized that the basic materials were hard to find in Switzerland, and that producing small quantities was much more expensive.
In spite of this, they have managed to keep their prices on a par with the big international manufacturers, even though the latter generally have their products produced at lower prices in Asia - and even though the small company from Western Switzerland doesn't have the same advertising resources at its disposal. Added to this is the fact that they don't want their products to carry logos. “As far as advertising is concerned, we adopt an anti-cyclical attitude to the market and rely on word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.”
Changing attitudes first, then habits
GEO certification of golf courses has already initiated a change of mentality at grassroots level, notes Clément Jaton. “Now there needs to be a change in habits when it comes to the feeling of comfort.” There remains the question of textile recycling. Many golfers throw away barely-worn clothes - and it takes decades for plastics like polyester to decompose in landfill.
Our two young entrepreneurs have yet another objective: to extend the life of their products by offering to mend polo shirts if necessary.