Sportswear to Clean Up the World's Oceans

From plastic bottles to fishing nets, fabric made from ocean waste

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Nov 02, 2016, 12:16 ET

CAVE CREEK, Ariz., Nov. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yoga Democracy has been committed to creating a line of yoga wear exclusively from recycled fibers from the beginning. Now, they've added recycled nylon made from fishing nets to their product line up which includes leggings, sports tops and shorts, making them the first company in the US to introduce this "Eco Tech Fabric" into the yoga wear space.

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Ocean litter is a major ecological problem. While the exact figure is hard to pin down, one report jointly issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Environment Program (UNEP), estimated that 640,000 tons of abandoned nets are spread across the world's oceans, representing 10% of ocean trash. By finding an alternative use for abandoned fishing nets; putting them to use to make high quality fabric, a financial incentive is created for industry to change how it disposes of materials at the end of their industrial life. It also gives consumers a sustainable alternative to standard nylon that is one of the most energy intensive fabrics to produce.

While the use of recycled fibers is not new to the sportwear industry, most notably adaptation of recycled polyester made from recycled plastic bottles, nylon has received considerably less attention. The fashion industry's take-up has been slow reflecting the high costs for sustainable nylon alternatives and technological challenges in converting material back into nylon 6 yarn for use in textiles.

YogaDemocracy.com with its direct to the consumer retail model and in-house sewing production is making sustainable techno fabrics accessible to the average consumer.

US consumers consumed around $97 billion of athleisure apparel in 2015. A switch by consumers to recycled synthetic fibers would have a major impact on the industry's environmental footprint. For every 10,000 tons of regenerated material 70,000 barrels of oil are conserved.

Yoga Democracy uses two different types of recycled nylon, both made with Econyl® yarn from recycled material and produced by Italy based Aquafil Group. The company is committed to making recycled nylon a core part of its line up alongside recycled polyester made from recycled plastic bottles, which makes up the bulk of the fabric it uses in production. All its recycled polyester is hand-dyed using a zero-water, low energy process called sublimation at the Yoga Democracy workshop in Cave Creek, Arizona.

About Yoga Democracy:

Yoga Democracy is a direct to the consumer manufacturer of women's yoga apparel. It committed from the outset to build an entire brand around the principle of recycled and eco-friendly fabrics. 95% of all fabric it uses is made from recycled fibers. Yoga Democracy is almost entirely vertically integrated from design to dyeing to sewing of its garments. The company retails direct from its web site www.yogademocracy.com

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SOURCE Yoga Democracy