INCycle by PUMA is a collection of biodegradable and fully recyclable apparel, footwear and accessories.

Sportswear label PUMA launched its new collection of cradle-to-cradle certified apparel, footwear and accessories last month. Having debuted the collection last fall, the company is glad to announce that the INCycle collection is now available through PUMA’s  online shop, and has already hit several retail stores worldwide.

The C2C philosophy is based on the vision of a world where nothing that is produced releases hazardous materials into the environment, nor ends up in landfills or incinerators. The concept of C2C involves the design and production of goods that can be composted or recycled, alongside production processes that have no environmental impact, and are able to recycle resources. Although several industries are far from this ideal scenario, PUMA is definitely taking a step in this direction and setting a higher standard for large apparel companies.

As part of the PPR Luxury Group, PUMA has become one of the mainstream brands that is actively trying to reduce their negative environmental footprint and increase their positive environmental footprint. Collaboration with C2C experts at the EPEA kickstarted PUMA’s new environmental strategy, which PUMA says, is only the beginning. The INCycle products meet the criteria for the C2C “BASIC” program, but the company aims to develop more sustainable products. As a bonus and motivational message to other brands, the designs of the INCycle collection have actually created profits rather than losses for the company.

The new INCycle collection contains both biodegradable and recyclable items. The fully compostable items include the Basket Tee and Logo T-Shirt, made from organic jersey cotton. The Basket Sneakers are the most interesting item in the collection, with uppers made from a blend of organic cotton and linen, and the soles made from a newly introduced biodegradable plastic called APINATbio. The material is made out of thermoplastic compounds, and is easily shredded into small components and composted or recycled into new items.

The recyclable INCycle products are not as innovative as the Basket Sneaker, but have been launched in conjunction with PUMA’s Bring Me Back program that allows customers to return recyclable items to the manufacturer. Made out of fully recyclable PET plastic, the Track Jacket, Track Pants, Backpack and Sports Bag are designed to be entirely recyclable, with everything down to the zippers made of materials that can be re-used. All of these items can be broken down into polyester granulate for use as raw fiber for new products.

Check out the collection online or visit your closest PUMA store for a first-hand experience. PUMA’s Bring Me Back program has been launched in collaboration with global recycling company I:CO, which has been installing in-store composting and recycling bins to take back unwanted or used INCycle items. In fact, items from any of I:CO’s member companies can be placed in the bins, including the likes of Adidas, Carhartt, H&M, Esprit, Foot Locker and Volcom. As a perk for the recycler, every kilogram of apparel or every pair of shoes returned will earn you a voucher for 10 percent off your next purchase at any of the participating labels!

Images: PUMA

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Does PUMA’s sustainability efforts cancel out its shaky sweatshop record?

In 2010, global athletics brand PUMA wowed the sustainable design world when it unveiled the Clever Little Bag, its eco-effective reinvention of the classic shoebox. The product of a nearly two-year collaboration with Yves Béhar’s fuseproject, the Clever Little Bag consists of 65 percent less paper, reduces PUMA’s carbon emissions by 10,000 tons per year and requires significantly less water, energy and diesel in the manufacturing process. Plus, it’s reusable.

The project falls under the company’s “PUMAVision” for a world that is “safer, more peaceful and more creative than the world we know today.” But while PUMA is making strides in the world of sustainable design and packaging, the same can’t be said for its commitment to ethical manufacturing. For decades, PUMA has repeatedly come under fire for human rights violations in its developing world factories. The contradiction begs the question: can commitment to ethics and the environment necessarily be separated?

The Good

The 4Keys is the tool we have developed to help us stay true to PUMAVision, and we use it by constantly asking ourselves if we are being Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative in everything we do. We believe that by staying true to our values, inspiring the passion and talent of our people, working in sustainable, innovative ways, and doing our best to be Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative, we will keep on making the products our customers love, and at the same time bring that vision of a better world a little closer every day.

PUMA works to implement this PUMAVision through three programs: puma.safe (addressing social and environmental issues), puma.peace (working for world peace) and puma.creative (promoting creativity).

The development of the Clever Little Bag fell under the puma.safe program. When PUMA approached fuseproject to collaborate, their needs were simple, said fuseproject’s Bart Haney at a recent presentation for the Pratt Institute’s Sustainability Crash Course. PUMA wanted to completely redesign their shoebox, polybag and hangtag to be more sustainable, while also cutting costs.

The project began with a comprehensive lifecycle analysis, the findings of which were released to the public in a 50-page PDF document. In short, it was found that the Clever Little Bag would result in savings on the production side because of reduced carbon emissions; savings during transport because of the innovative shape and reduced weight; and influence on customer behavior, since the shoe bag would encourage reuse and eliminate the need for an additional polymer shopping bag.

Next, it was on to the design phase. After going through more than 2,000 designs and testing out more than 40 prototypes, the Clever Little Bag design was chosen. Made from non-woven polyethylene with a corrugated “bone” structure to separate shoes and provide stability, the design requires little assembly and considers transport, storage and retail display efficiency.

The PUMA hangtag also got a makeover, shrinking to save paper and incorporating icons from the PUMA Eco-Table to save space. As for the polybag, the solution was almost laughably simple, Haney said. By folding the shirt in half just one more time, designers were able to halve the amount of plastic needed.

The Bad

The positive press surrounding the Clever Little Bag launch couldn’t overshadow the human rights violations reported at PUMA factories in recent years. Though PUMA is a member of the Fair Labor Association and claims that it conducts regular independent audits, it is regularly called out by anti-sweatshop organizations for conditions at its 350 outsourced production facilities. For instance:

• In January 2011, PUMA’s El Salvadoran producer Ocean Sky came under fire when sweatshop conditions and 60 hour-plus shifts were exposed by the American National Labor Committee.
• In April 2011, 101 Cambodian garment workers fainted at the Huey Chuen factory in Phnom Penh due to long working hours and poor health and safety. And just a few months ago, a woman was shot during a labor protest in Phnom Penh calling for better working conditions and higher pay.
• In March of this year, an independent study by the War On Want exposed working conditions in Bangladeshi factories producing Olympic apparel for PUMA, Nike, and Adidas. The report found that most workers make well under a living wage and have to illegally work over the 60-hour maximum in order to make enough to survive.

One report can be dismissed as an isolated incident. But frequent reports from factories around the world point to larger issues of neglect.

The Questionable

With its emphasis on sustainable innovation, PUMA is capable of creating industry-wide environmental change. The Clever Little Bag is proof that reimagining things like a shoebox can not only improve eco-efficiency but also cut down on costs – a fact that is already pushing PUMA’s peers to analyze their own packaging.

But if PUMA is serious about having a positive social impact, it must also take meaningful steps to improve working conditions along its supply chain. According to the PUMAVision statement, the company is constantly questioning its pursuit of fairness. Insisting on living wages and decent labor conditions in its overseas factories seems like a logical next step.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One for One Campaign

Behind the Label: Design Within Reach

Behind the Label: Burt’s Bees

Behind the Label: Aveda Natural Beauty Products

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Hormone disrupting chemicals, found by Greenpeace, can affect immune systems and alter sexual development.

Greenpeace recently reported that clothing items bearing the logos of 14 global brands – including Adidas, H&M, Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch – have been found to contain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), chemicals that can break down to form the hormone-disrupting substance nonylphenol (NP). Just this morning, Reuters released the news that Nearly 300 Cambodian workers fell sick this week at a garment factory producing goods for Swedish fashion brand H&M.

“Workers smelled something bad coming from the shirts,” said 26-year-old Norn Leakhena, a worker at the factory.

Greenpeace also reports in their findings that “Of the 78 articles of clothing bought and manufactured in locations all over the world, two thirds (52) tested positive for these chemicals – demonstrating that the use and release of these substances is a global problem affecting the entire textile industry, and further reinforcing the findings of the first Dirty Laundry Report, published 6 weeks ago.”

We caught up with Tommy Crawford, Communications Manager for Greenpeace International to help us break down what this means for us in terms of personal as well as ecological safety.

Are the hormone disrupting chemicals coming from finishes on the clothes?
Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) are used as surfactants in textile production. They subsequently break down into the toxic nonylphenol (NP) in the manufacturing process in wastewater discharges, as well as when finished clothes are washed by the consumers. This means that the persistent, hormone-disrupting NPs end up predominately in rivers and waterways in the countries of production but also in the countries of sale – including countries where use of the parent compounds (NPEs) is banned.

Would you say these are brands targeted mostly at a younger demographic who could care less about toxic clothing?
Toxic chemicals are a concern for everyone, regardless of their age. Greenpeace is not looking to discourage people from buying these brands, but we are interested in empowering their consumers to challenge these brands to produce their clothes in a way that does not come with a high price for people and the environment. A toxic-free future is possible, and concerned and empowered consumers have already played a massive role in convincing Nike and Puma to commit to the total elimination of all hazardous chemicals from their production by watching and sharing the campaign video and signing the petition. Over 600 supporters and activists even took part in the world’s biggest coordinated striptease to send a clear message to the brands to “Detox” our future.

The Greenpeace report says that chemicals are entering waterways and altering organisms. Why should we care?
We should care as we are talking about very problematic toxic chemicals entering into our water and our environment and having harmful and often unknown impacts. Chemicals that have no safe levels. Chemicals that stay in our environment for a long time (persistent), build up in the food chain (bioaccumulative), and that are hormone disrupting and toxic.

The substances Nonylphenol ethoxolates (NPEs) that we found in the clothes breakdown into the toxic nonylphenol (NP) once released into sewage treatment plants or directly into rivers (such as in manufacturing wastewaters, or during normal washing by consumers). NPs have the ability to mimic natural estrogen hormones. Scientific studies have found that exposure to NP can lead to altered sexual development in some organisms, particularly fish and other aquatic organisms. Lab testing on animal cells has also observed NP impacting immune system cells. Many of these effects can occur at relatively low levels.

With 13 countries involved in the supply chain for all these tested brands, how can they be regulated to ensure change? Is it too big a project?
No it is not. Suppliers in all these 13 countries are supplying big international clothing brands. By campaigning on the clothing brands, urging them to take responsibility for the toxic discharges in the manufacture of their clothes and becoming part of the solution by cleaning up their supply chains we can witness positive results for people and the environment in all production countries. It is not an impossible task, we have already seen both Puma and Nike committing to a toxic-free future by 2020.

Following its commitment last Wednesday Nike immediately took measures to start the elimination of NPEs in their supply chain by informing all of their suppliers around the world that NPEs need to be eliminated. Nike immediately moved NPEs from their list of ‘future restricted substances during manufacture’ to their existing list of ‘restricted substances during manufacture.’ This means that by encouraging the brands to commit to creating a toxic-free world, we can bring about positive and widespread change in all the countries of manufacture – very important for all the millions of people living in the countries of production who are dependent on rivers and other waterways for their drinking water.

Will you be checking back with Puma and Nike regarding their commitment to change?
Yes, both companies have publicly committed to come back with a Plan of Action with a road map detailing how they will get to zero discharges of hazardous chemicals by 2020. Nike, for example, wrote last week in its public commitment: ”Within eight weeks Nike Inc. will announce it’s action plan for the goal of eliminating hazardous chemicals within our supply chain addressing transparency, chemical management, including how we will address the need for industry disclosure in line with the right to know principles and a time-line for the highest priority hazardous chemicals.” Puma has also committed to publishing an action plan detailing how they will deliver their commitment within the next eight weeks.

Greenpeace will be closely watching this process and reviewing the plans of action to ensure they will indeed lead to the brands and their suppliers achieving toxic-free production by 2020.

Images: Greenpeace

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Working for the best eco fashion blog, I know ecological clothing is not a passing trend – it’s the future of fashion. It’s just a matter of time before the mainstream industry agrees. With last week’s 40th Earth Day celebration, it’s time to take the pulse of mainstream culture. Here are some interesting news stories and evidence of sustainability filtering through to mainstream brands.

Hot Mods

As far as cars go, Saab has always been a quirky brand. But the logic behind their recent launch of an eco clothing collection called Pure BioPower Eco Clothing is, well, lets just say ahead of its time. Designed bу Swedish designer Josefin Lassbo, the collection made its North American debut alongside the new Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept that is E85 bioethanol-capable а×-ԁ equipped wÑ–th thе next-generation GM Hybrid system.

Stella Takes a Tip

She has long been considered the fashion world’s conscience by refusing to use skins or furs in her designs. Recognizing a further need, Stella McCartney has a dedicated green portion of her latest seasonal collection which beautifully utilizes organic and alternative textiles in the designs. Check out her 17 eco tips over on her website.

Puma Unboxed

Puma kicks off an ambitious long term sustainability initiative with its inventive shoe packaging that features a cutout loop as a carrying handle, which also doubles as a reusable shoe bag and therefore eliminates the need for a plastic bag. Designed by Yves Behar of Fuseproject, Puma estimates the design will reduce the company’s paper usage by 65 percent and cut carbon emissions by 10 tons per year. It will also save 20 million Mega Joules of electricity, one million liters of fuel oil, one million liters of water, 500,000 liters of diesel and up to 275 tons of plastic by eliminating shopping bags. “Clever little bag” is more like the Cat’s Meow.

Mossy Glossy

All this talk of Anna Wintour’s retirement makes me daydream about how game changing it could be for the industry if her successor was a green fashion proponent. In the meantime, rival Elle’s green coverage is challenging their readers to go green with their 21 day long eco-chic list. Kudos to Elle for leading the glossies towards green.

Seeing Green

With all the best green fashion content available on the Internet, it’s hard to drag yourself away. But, take a break and drag yourself to the couch because designer John Patrick of Organic is getting his own six-episode show. It will no doubt prove a fascinating insight into the challenges of getting a sustainable clothing line produced. Get set for the premiere on Planet Green in early 2011.

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