Sustainable Cycling Apparel
Is sustainable fashion really sustainable?
Do you know what even the best cycling jersey in the world is made from?
When the label says 86% polyester - that's virgin polyester extracted from crude oil.
Yes, that oil. Black gold. Texas Tea… Crude Oil.
Not many cycle clothing brands like to talk about it, but virgin polyester is derived from crude oil. So unfortunately yes, from the Pro World Tours to the big (and small) name brands to custom kit, it's nearly all made from virgin polyester, extracted from.....you guessed it...crude oil.
But this isn't yet common knowledge. Why? Well cycling apparel brands don’t really shout about it. In truth, in the past we didn't even know but it inspired us to lead the change. Our first step - use the better alternative.
How Beautiful Can Plastic Bottles Be?
The Parietti Women's Cycling Jerseys, for example, are made from 7.2 recycled plastic bottles, yes those plastic bottles, with absolutely no compromise in comfort or performance.
It goes like this: the polymer extracted from the bottles, ground into chips, then re-spun, by specialist Italian manufacturers, into lightweight, super soft, performance yarn before being weaved into our premium sportswear fabrics.
The fabric is Bluesign® Approved, GRS standard and OEKO-TEX 100 certified.
The fabric we use for our Professional Cycling Jersey is not only super soft and comfortable, it reduces energy consumption by around 50% and water consumption by around 30%.
And whilst recycled polyester isn’t the ‘silver bullet’ to solve all our problems, it’s still a much better alternative to help protect where we ride.
And while we’re not saying buying a cycling shirt will change the world - We know it’s a luxury product for a luxury sport - What we are saying is that with Parietti it does go a little deeper.
Because we’re Sustainable from the start.
That means, this isn’t just our sustainable capsule collection or our new Eco Cycling Clothing range. We’re not hastily backtracking to meet a bunch of recently drafted, highly PRable sustainability goals. In short, we're not greenwashing.
At Parietti we are ever on guard against Greenwashing and were concerned when recently the plastic bottle to polyester process we use for our kit came under attack as a greenwashing tactic. But for us, right now, there is no alternative. If it’s oil or plastic bottles. We’ll take the bottles.
Obviously we’ll keep searching for realistic alternatives. But for now we’ll keep 7.2 bottles out of the ocean, to make a piece of kit that you can get outside and feel truly free in. A piece of kit that will last. In short, we’re working hard, with everything we do to create outdoor clothing that protects the outdoors.
Because for outdoor sports clothing, like road cycling clothing, to be reliant on the very thing that’s contributing to climate change - oil - is not just ironic, it’s unforgivable.
So if you’re with us and want to try a piece of premium cycle apparel that isn’t only sustainable but also Ethical Cycling Clothing, then there is currently up to 30% off our Series 1 collection.
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