Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho will take to the field in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa wearing shirts made of recycled plastic bottles. The change comes after Nike said that it would make its biggest commitment to sustainability by producing the shirts worn by nine teams in football’s biggest competition from 100% recycled polyester, with each shirt using up to eight plastic bottles.
Making the shirts this way is expected to cut the amount of energy used in production by 30% and save 13 million plastic bottles going to landfill sites this year alone.
Nike would not comment on how many shirts it expected to sell, but using 13 million bottles would equate to more than 1.5 million shirts to be worn by the players and supporters of countries including Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands. Nike aims to make England’s kit, produced by its Umbro subsidiary, from recycled materials as soon as possible.
The recycled polyester will come from a supplier in Taiwan, using plastic from discarded bottles from Japan and Taiwan. They will be cut up, melted down and spun into a yarn that is ultimately converted into the fabric for the shirts.
Charlie Denson, president of Nike Brand, said that the recycled shirts – which will be a permenant fixture in its range – represented a good deal for consumers, the environment and the company’s shareholders. The fabric used is more expensive than normal, but Mr Denson said the American sportswear manufacturer was able to reduce the expense by using less material and cutting costs elsewhere. He added that consumers would not be penalised for buying sustainable products, because the shirts would cost the same price as normal. The company is keen to make more of its products using sustainable materials to secure its supplies given the increasing scarcity of the world’s natural resources.
