EOCA Member Ternua has included in its spring-summer 2020 collection four T-shirts made with a mixture of 30% sea plastic and 70% plastic from recycled bottles. This is the result of the SEACYCLE project an initiative in which Ternua has collaborated with AZTI-Tecnalia, the Basque Government (IHOBE), EKO-REC and Seaqual to collect, with three fishing boats, plastic waste from the Basque coast and turn it into garments to enjoy in outdoor activities.
This project is just one more of the unique projects which have been initiated by Ternua for many years. For example, with REDCYCLE in 2016 Ternua, together with the fishermen of the Basque brotherhoods, collected 12 tons of abandoned fishing nets from the Bay of Biscay and transformed them into technical garments, winning a number of international awards as a result. Then, in 2018, came the NUTCYCLE project to recycle walnut shells collected in the Gipuzkoa cider houses to make natural dye for its garments. In 2019, Ternua took another step in its path towards sustainable innovation by presenting SEACYCLE. It should be noted that all these projects, in addition to giving a second life to disused materials to design technical garments for the outdoors, have a positive impact at a local level, promoting the circular economy in the region.
Specifically, with this initiative Ternua wanted to show that it is possible to take advantage of marine debris and also the sea plastic that, although very damaged by saltwater, combining it with plastic from recycled bottles, results in sustainable garments with a quality fabric. In this way, Ternua is an example of how to work with the environmental problem of plastic and marine debris that threatens the conservation of flora and fauna as well as human health, due to the existence of microplastics. The brand, which is one of the pioneers in the reuse of materials for the manufacture of outdoor technical garments, already has collections that use cotton, wool, fishing nets, coffee grounds, feather, plastic bottles, train carpets, worn out garments and nutshells. Not only this, but all its products are PFC free i.e. a water repellency treatment free from substances harmful to the environment.
Please see here for a short film about the Seacycle Project.
