Sympatex Technologies started a new initiative on sustainability with its long-standing customer RICOSTA whereby it provides the children’s shoe company with completely recycled Symptex lining material for children’s shoes for the next season. Thanks to this agreement, RICOSTA is the first manufacturer of children’s shoes which adapts its Sympatex line to completely recycled materials. The measure is completed by a joint POS campaign targeted at playfully teaching children about plastic and recycling.
The linings, which are up to 100% recycled, consist of GRS (global recycled standard) or bluesign-certified polyester fibers made out of recycled PET bottles. The lifecycle assessment is excellent when comparing the production of 1 kg of used recycled polyester fibers with 1 kg of polyester fibers based on crude oil: 32% CO2 reduction, 60% energy saving and 94% less water consumption. Instead of 60 liters, only about 3 liters of the rare resource are used.
In line with this, Sympatex has developed a compact children’s mini-book entitled “Sam and the plastic plan,” which teaches children the importance of recycling. Next winter season, it will added to each pair of RICOSTA/Sympatex children’s shoes of the brands Pepino and RICOSTA, as well as provided as a sales document for selected RICOSTA distributors.
“We think that the youngest of the next generation must have a say as well in ecological issues”, explains Dr. Rüdiger Fox, CEO of Sympatex Technologies. “Since if we don’t close the plastic cycle as soon as possible, they will already be the next generation which will find more plastic than fish in the oceans when they have become adults. And the textile industry can make a significant contribution.”
