Models wearing Adidas' new 100 per cent recycled tennis range that top players will debut at the Australian Open on Monday.Credit:Brook Mitchell
From Monday,some of the world's top tennis players,including Alexander"Sascha"Zverev,Caroline Wozniacki and Angelique Kerber,will wear the range,which was to be unveiled at Bondi Icebergs on Thursday morning,when a temporary tennis court was constructed after the pool's weekly draining.
Parley founder Cyrill Gutsch said the organisation had the idea for creating yarn from plastic collected from shorelines around the world in 2012 when recycling still had the"ick factor". Thankfully,he said,Adidas was prepared to join as its first apparel partner,in 2015.
"Today there is no excuse for any company to use new,virgin plastic,"Mr Gutsch said from New York."We have proven consumers are willing to pay a little more money and … prefer products made from'ocean plastic'than other recycled plastics or new plastics."
Of course,working with a top sportswear company required Parley to address two key – and sometimes competing – criteria:performance and style.
Alexander Zverev models the new Adidas x Parley range ahead of the Australian Open.
"We wanted to take two things away from the pre-judgement that people have[about recycled fashion] – that it's ugly and looks like a tree hugger,and it’s low quality,"Mr Gutsch said."We have to make it an appealing and desirable mindset that it’s cool to be an environmentalist."
Sustainable fashion editor and author Clare Press said fashion and environmentalism must never be viewed in isolation.