The fabric comes from “airbags”?

Mercedes-Benz launches new cross-border clothing series!

American fashion designer and music DJ Heron Preston has collaborated with German luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz to launch a concept clothing series aimed at exploring innovation in fashion design and the boundaries of sustainable development.

Heron Preston’s idea this time is to recycle materials from car airbags to make clothes. Mercedes-Benz said, “This life-saving technological innovation is celebrating two anniversaries.” This year is the 50th anniversary of the first patent for the airbag, and it is also the 50th anniversary of Mercedes-Benz’s S-Class sedan (S-Class). 40th anniversary of the use of airbags in cars (the S-Class is the most produced series of Mercedes-Benz).

Heron Preston uses materials recycled from airbags used by Mercedes-Benz in safety and crash tests. He has designed three styles of clothing for men and women and some exclusive merchandise, with clothes that inflate and deflate like airbags. This series will be sold on the sneaker trading platform GOAT starting on September 10th.

New energy vehicle NIO launched

New environmental protection Fashion brand BLUE SKY LAB

On October 15, NIO, a new car-making force, released its fashion and environmentally friendly brand BLUE SKY LAB. On the night of the launch, at the Shanghai fashion show, 11 Weilai users and many professional models brought clothing, bags and home products with industrial functional elements to the scene. The Blue Sky Lab project reuses leftover materials from car manufacturing, such as airbags, seat belts, microfiber and leather remnants, and aluminum to create sustainable lifestyle products.

As a new car-making brand, Weilai has been focusing on the strategic layout of circular economy for sustainable development. , in addition to the environmentally friendly clothing debuted at Shanghai Fashion Week, NIO also explored aspects such as battery technology and cruising range. It is reported that NIO will also launch the world’s first mass-produced pure electric vehicle with a driving range of more than 1,000 kilometers next year.

As environmental problems become more and more serious, Mercedes-Benz and Weilai are safely recycling cars Air bags and other materials are reused and designed into garments to reflect the social responsibility of the brand and reduce the impact on the earth. On the other hand, it also enters the textile and apparel field from the automotive field through sustainable entry to enhance its brand competitiveness. In addition to Mercedes-Benz and Weilai, more and more companies are joining the “sustainable development” team:

Converse

In recent years, Converse has been actively developing the Renew series plan. It has previously used waste water bottles to make colorful environmentally friendly shoes. This time, the series has once again ushered in the latest design. The Renew Chunk 70 shoe upper launched some time ago uses recyclable recycled materials. The upper and shoelaces are made of partially recycled cotton and polyester fiber. The shoe body is modeled on the classic Chuck 70 and comes in macaron colors, integrating environmentally friendly materials with the classic shoe shape.

Nike

Nike launches new sports shoes Air Zoom Alphafly. The overall weight of the recycled material is as high as 50%, including the Nike Flyprint upper, which is a 3D printed textile made of at least 20% recycled TPU, with 45% recycled Flyknit material, fully recyclable PEBA ZoomX insole, 100% recycled Polyester label and laces, 50% recycled TPU seamless film, 70% recycled foam cream midsole, partially recycled TPU forefoot Air Zoom Pods, 50% recycled carbon fiber rear foot sole insulator Flyplate.

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Will new materials be accepted by more consumers and brands in the future?

At present, the development of new materials is still affected by many uncertain factors from the consumer and supply sides.

Let’s look at the supply side first. The biggest demand of the shoe and clothing industry on the supply side is to make good products at a lower cost. However, most of the new materials nowadays are not low in cost. Compared with traditional cotton and linen materials, material performance is not stable enough.

On the corporate side, most companies may not have accurate and clear understanding of new materials. Except for some brands entering the game , most companies are still waiting and hesitating.

This also involves games and balance. Concepts such as sustainability associated with new materials are, to some extent, advocating for consumers to be more Low carbon, more environmentally friendly, and buying fewer clothes are contrary to the high frequency and high repurchase pursued by consumer companies.

From the perspective of consumers, the current sustainable and environmentally friendly consumption The acceptance of the concept among people is increasing. However, overall, in the mass consumer market, the weight of sustainable environmental protection in purchasing decisions is not high enough. There are also many people who think that new environmentally friendly materials are just gimmicks. It can be said that, The popularization of new material products also requires market education for potential users.

Although there are uncertainties in the wide application of new materials, their positive impact on the development of the footwear and apparel industry cannot be concealed At present, a more feasible and common solution is to use new materials not as the backbone of clothing and footwear materials, but as a part that consumers are nice to have. Because these new materials are good at windproof, waterproof, comfort, etc. The advantages in this aspect are difficult to match with some traditional materials.

In addition, from the perspective of industry chain innovation, new materials are more efficient and more environmentally friendly than traditional materials, whether in production or recycling. There is still a lot of room for compression and adjustment in the production costs of new materials. If we lengthen the timeline, we can more clearly realize that new materials are actually reducing production and consumption costs for enterprises and society.

There are already some optimistic phenomena It shows that more and more consumers are willing to pay for sustainable materials and functional materials. According to a 2019 survey by China Textile Federation, more than 40% of the 5,002 consumers surveyed were willing to pay a 10% to 20% premium for sustainable textile and apparel products.

We have reason to believe that when After the concepts and production methods related to new materials are more widely accepted by consumers, the synthetic biology technology behind new materials will have the opportunity to change the entire value chain of new material production, and the lower the cost and higher the efficiency of new material production, , the more widely it can be used in the market, forming a virtuous cycle.

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