Addressing a ‘world in which greenwashing is all too common’, the cycling brand Rapha has decided to “wear its waste problem on its sleeve” through a new collection that turns excess fabric into its signature cycling apparel.
While the team is working towards minimising the surplus fabric to derive from its production processes, Rapha admits that “to some extent it’s unavoidable” for the clothing business – citing product amendments, cancellations, and minimum order quantities.
The brand is now attempting to take ownership of its waste – quite literally – through the introduction of a new Excess capsule collection, constructed entirely from leftover fabric to be made available in limited numbers only.
“While surplus fabric may be an unavoidable part of the apparel industry, giving new life to discarded material is where we can make a difference,” said the team.
That difference comes in currently to the tune of approximately 2,303m of excess fabric and 24kg or yarn in total now saved from landfill or incineration. Excess zips, elastics, and size labels have also been used where possible.
Not willing to compromise on the quality of its garments, Rapha put its Excess programme to the test via the professional peloton.
“Our years of innovations have helped some of the top riders in the world gain crucial seconds, so we took the trust we’ve earned from the pros and turned it into positive change,” the team explains in a press statement.
Alongside the Excess collection, Rapha has created a switch-out kit ‘with a difference’ for team EF Education-EasyPost and EF Education-TIBCO-SVB for the first men’s Grand Tour of the season – the Giro d’Italia, as well as the Giro Donne.
This new team issue consists of 72% majority excess material, owing to UCI rules around team kit consistency and garment requirements.
“Utilising tried-and-tested Pro Team technology with our new Excess programme, we created our most consciously constructed team issue for one of the biggest races in the season,” Rapha said.
Other areas in which Rapha is continuing to make strides in positive adaptation of processes is in encouraging product engineers and designers to check in on minimum order quantities issues in order to ‘catch potential offenders early’ where MOQs are set higher than Rapha’s required amount.
“Now, we examine the range months before purchase and tailor our choices and quantities accordingly,” said the team.
This practice alone has helped the team save 7,000m of excess in one season alone.
Rapha founder, Simon Mottram, said: “Rapha exists to inspire the world to live life by bike. We know that cycling is a fundamental force for good and is inherently sustainable, but the cycling industry must do far more to minimise its impact on the environment, while maximising its positive impact on people’s lives.
“Now, more than ever, we are committed to improving our impact while growing participation and ultimately making our business as sustainable as the sport we serve.”
