Cannondale: Already Purveyors of Plastic
Not long after posting a Singletrack.com story about Dirt Republic, a grassroots company launching a line of mountain bike shirts made from recycled plastic, it was pointed out that plastics were already in Cannondale's future.
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It wasn’t so much a “gotcha” moment as it was an “ah-ha” one, because learning about cool gear — enviro-conscious gear to boot — and passing that information on to you all is the name of the game.
Not long after I posted a story about Dirt Republic, a grassroots New Hampshire company launching a line of mountain bike shirts made from recycled plastic, I heard from a couple folks about another cycling-specific company making eco-friendly performance apparel. I’ll make a wild assumption and say we’re all familiar with Cannondale Bicycle Corporation.
Seems Cannondale last year introduced jerseys made from fabric called “Re-Spun,” said Bill Rudell, the company’s marketing manager. Not unlike Dirt Republic’s shirts, which are made from recycled plastic water bottles and then turned into a proprietary fabric called Repreve, Re-Spun fabrics are spun from discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles or fabric scraps.
“Our Re-Spun line did very well its first year in the market, so that for 2010 we stepped up our offerings to five men’s and five women’s jersey styles including a lightweight, long-sleeve version,” Rudell said.
Recycled content in the jerseys made with Re-Spun is at least 42 percent (but usually 75 or 100 percent), according to Cannondale’s Web site.
Some Re-Spun products also use organic bamboo charcoal to combat odor, with the performance gear offering what we all look for on our rides: wicking, warmth, and stretch. Several items in Cannondale MTB-specific line, “Grind” apparel also use Re-Spun fabrics to lessen our impact on the environment.