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Sustainability remains a central theme at OutDoor

14 Jul '09
4 min read

In the medium-term, Patagonia is seeking to convert its entire collection to 100- percent environmentally friendly and recyclable materials. "Up to now”, says Holger Bismann, Director of Patagonia Europe, "61 percent of our 2009 winter collection has been made out of recycled materials, 77 percent out of e-fibres, and 65 percent is recyclable.” This is a rate that only Klättermusen, a much smaller company from northern Sweden, has managed to attain. Company owner Peter Askulv wants to ban all fluorocarbons from his products by the end of 2010.

For membranes, that means the end of ePTFE, but more complicated is the conversion to DWR waterproofing without fluorocarbons. Along the same lines, manufacturer Klättermusen turns carpets and fishing nets into backpack materials and uses recycled polypropylene for clothing, resulting in enormous water savings vis-à-vis cotton. "We're not seeing any functional disadvantages to our self-imposed conversion,” says Askulv. Bismann would certainly agree.

For this reason, Rob Wylie, Director Osprey Europe, considers legislation necessary. "In the end, sustainability must be forced by laws from above and not left up to each company,” concludes Wylie, who sees the bottle deposit system in Germany as a model.

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