Danone’s evian water and Rothy's announced a new partnership to repurpose evian water bottles collected this September into a limited-edition, tennis-inspired capsule collection created by Rothy's. With a shared mission to keep plastic waste in the economy and out of nature, evian and Rothy's will transform evian bottles collected between Aug. 30 and Sept. 12 from the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, which evian sponsors, into a first-of-its-kind capsule collection that will debut in September 2022.
Each September nearly 10 tons of plastic generated at this annual event is diverted away from landfills via recycling. This year, evian and Rothy's are working together in finding their own circular solution for some of the diverted waste. Their goal is to give the evian bottles collected from the event a chic second life as part of a capsule collection of court-side essentials, made using Rothy's low waste, circular-focused manufacturing method, the companies say.
The collected evian bottles will be blended with other recycled plastic bottles and then transformed into soft, washable thread, which Rothy's will then use to knit each item in the capsule collection to shape —leaving minimal waste behind, they note. The design team is exploring everything from headwear to tennis bags, potentially testing into new categories for the brand.
Currently, evian bottles contain an average of 40% rPET across the entire range, and the company is committed to making all its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic, excluding the label, by 2025.
“evian offers natural, healthy hydration with sustainability at its core. As a Certified B Corp and carbon neutral brand, we are always looking for new ways to reduce our footprint even further. That's why we are thrilled to partner with Rothy's, a company that shares our commitment to circularity, to develop a capsule collection using recycled evian bottles for our consumers to enjoy," said Smeeta Khetarpaul, marketing director for evian US, in a statement. “There is no better partner to bring something like this to life than the sustainability pioneers at Rothy's.”
By designing with recycled materials, Rothy's builds every product in its wholly owned workshop, using world-class knitting technology to create footwear and accessories — with nearly no waste, it says. Furthering its mission, in March 2021 Rothy's announced its pledge to reach circular production by 2023, pioneering the shoe recycling technology to incorporate twice-recycled materials into new products.
“The Rothy's x evian partnership is a chance for our team to create a first-of-its-kind capsule collection and push the limits of Rothy's design and manufacturing capabilities. As Rothy's marches toward our ambition to achieve circular production, we're excited to be developing and scaling innovative recycling solutions. Circular design begins where another product's life might have ended, and we're looking forward to repurposing recycled evian bottles into beautiful, high-quality pieces,” said Saskia van Gendt, Rothy's head of sustainability.
More information on the partnership between evian and Rothy's will be announced in 2022.
