New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Project category

Identify the award category for which this project is being submitted
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Email user
isaac.nogues@infiniteathletic.com

Basic information
Project title
Infinite Athletic from you racket string

Full Project Title
Upcylcing clothes made from your tennis racket strings

Please provide a short, catchy description of your project to be used in communication towards the public.
Infinite Athletic is the first tennis brand 100% circular where the main raw material used comes from the tennis racket strings. We eollect a waste never used before to create a new polymer with all the technical specs to guarantee the best performance and the top features for the players.
100% recycled and 100% recyclabe, our garments are ecodiseng to be recyclebe infinitely cause we do not use other fibers as far as the our new PET.

What was the geographical scope of your project?
Cross-border/international

Where was your project implemented?
Location 1
Spain

Location 2
France

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
{Empty}

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
In Spain, Barcelona and Madrid.

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your project benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your project won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Is your project fully completed
Yes

Please indicate a date (mm/yy)
2022-11-18

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project).
- First name: Isaac
  Last name: Nogues
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Spain
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Carrer de Besalú, 20
  Town: Rubí
  Postal code: 08191
  Country: Spain
  Direct Tel: +34 649 45 74 05
  E-mail: isaac.nogues@infiniteathletic.com
  Website: https://infiniteathletic.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/infiniteathletic_/
In case my project is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my project in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the project
Please provide a summary of your project.
Infinite Athletic is the first sportswear brand for tennis players created from racket strings waste.
And it is the first European brand 100% recycled through a chemical process successfully achieved.
Our project is built on 3 fundamental pillars; the true circularity, the community and the local supply chain.
- True circularity: because we recover a waste never used before to create a new yarn, fabric and eco-design our garments that are 100% recyclable by not mixing other fibers or incorporating chemicals or additives.
We have created a collection system, where we place Infinite containers to leave the racket strings and garments when they reach the end of their life.
-Community: Because we integrate the players, clubs, international events and main string manufacturers in the collection of material.
- Local supplychain: because all production is done in the vicinity of Barcelona, Spain.

We have to emphasize that our garments are technical and high performance to guarantee a very demanding game.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words.
Circularity

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Recyclabe

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Strings

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Racket

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
Tenis

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our main objectives are:
- Reduction of the extraction of virgin PET.
The tennis racket string waste is a PET of the highest purity that is changed frequently and does not suffer mechanical deterioration like the one that PET that comes from the sea could suffer.
This PET has high tenacity and high resistance and is therefore perfect for garments.
In a market of 25MM of federated players in Europe, the residue is huge and therefore the source of material too.
- Find a new source of recyclable PET.
- Ecodesign a collection of recyclable garments in an infinite way.
Thanks to more than 2 years of R&D to develop a yarn with natural mechanical elasticity, a soft touch without additives or softeners and the development of natural body moisture, they have allowed us to create a collection of high performance sports without using other fibers that are not are those of the strings.
- Create a closed recovery network that would allow us to recover the garments at the end of their useful life and the waste itself.
- Ecodesign a PET thread with all the necessary mechanical properties to avoid having to use other non-recyclable fibers such as elastomers.
- Create a local chain.
All our industrial partners are located around Barcelona, an area with a special history and textile trajectory.
- Create a community involved with the project.
Players, clubs and the main world tournaments are getting involved to recover the strings and become a sport that is increasingly aware of the planet.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our collection has a timeless aesthetic, which does not respond to fast fashion temporalities and which aims to be a collection that seeks technicality to play at the highest performance.

The garments mix more than 3 different fabrics, all 100% tennis racket, including tights, pique fabrics, smooth fabrics and ultra-light fabrics to give a technical aesthetic and high performance.
All our garments brings with a stamp: MADE FROM YOUR RACKET STRINGS, to make known that player is helping and contributing our project and the save the planet.

At the same time, our collections have been tested by professional players for results such as heat management, body moisture management to prevent dehydration and fatigue, sweat management, cooling during the game, lightness and natural elasticity.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our project is suitable for all types of public and players without discriminating their level, physical shape and physical condition.
Also encourage all the people who are passionate about tennis and paddle tennis and are concerned about the paddle to become part of the project by contributing their strings.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project
After announcing our project, the tennis clubs and the players will begin to give us all their waste and not throw it away anymore.
To the point that large European manufacturers have contacted us to give us their waste and take care of the transport costs themselves.

The citizens feel fulfilled since they know that their residue becomes a garment that they can later wear and deposit again with the ropes so that it returns to the chain and becomes another garment in an infinite way.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the project. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was.
The commitment was immediate and at the highest level, since it was the first time that this type of waste was used to create yarn and garments.
Because for many years, a new source of PET for textiles has not been discovered and finally because there are many tennis players and sports lovers who want to help improve the planet and now they have been given a new way to do it.
Being them participants at the beginning of the chain, delivering their cordage as Raw Material and at the end of the chain, returning the garments with the cordage.
We have had commitment, from large manufacturers, international tournaments such as Godo, Davis Cup...etc and great players with Rafa Nadal.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your project. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was.
Our project is made up of three partners.
Francois Devy, our CFO with more than 20 years as financial manager of large multinationals, with extensive experience raising costs, finances and managing teams.
Francesc Jimenez, our CEO, is a textile engineer, with more than 20 years as a product developer in R&D, responsible for giving technical feasibility to the new yarn created from discarded tennis racket strings.
Isaac Nogues, our COO and head of sales and relations, with more than 15 years as an international sales manager with experience in Africa, South America and China.

The advantage of our team is that we had already worked together in our previous company, developing the same roles.

Our way of working is based on the trust and criteria of each one, delegating the specializations but sharing the detail and the day to day for the correct decision making.

Please give information on the results, outcomes and impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for. This includes also benefits from the project for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Bcome Results conclusions:
Infinite Athletic garments (Black Edition)
○ are made out of 100% recycled materials
○ comply with all of the design solutions for the longevity of sportswear garments defined by WRAP
(2013)
○ have a probability of being collected for recycling instead of landfilling that is 80% higher than the
benchmark
○ avoid landfilling 30% of the waste generated in the value chain
○ are 75% more circular than their market alternative
● The Black Edition materials are flowing 61% less linearly than average.

Please provide documents showing the results, outcomes and impacts of your project
PDF
PDF
- pdf-1-4073.pdf
Please highlight the innovative character of the project, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the project
The most innovative characters are the following:
- Use a residue never recovered before.
- Get to spin a PET that comes from racket strings.
- Achieving a successful chemical recycling that allows us to incorporate color and printers into the garments.
- Achieving the Close the Loop, thanks to our eco-design of the garments and the collection network that we have designed by installing physical garment and cordage collection containers or making it easier for customers to send us the garments by mail.
- Ecodesign a garment that meets all the technical requirements without using chemicals or other fibers.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your project.
Methodology:
- 2 years of R&D to create a new thread.
Once the yarn has been developed, test the reaction of the machines with this new yarn and adapt both spinning machines and the mechanical characteristics of the yarn to be able to make a yarn suitable for weaving.
- Contact clubs and people of interest in the world of tennis to show the project.
- Involve stores, players and clubs so that they collaborate and promote our project.

Create a go to market strategy based on the player community.
with 5 sales channels based on the B2C of our own ecommerce, marketplaces and retail and then B2B with collaborations with major sports brands and creation of special collections for the main sponsors of international tournaments.

Please describe which elements of your project could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and context. This may involve for example aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings etc.
They can be transferred:
- The technical configurations of the recycling equipment.
- The chemical parameters for the correct recycling process.
- The mechanical parameters of adequacy of the spinning and weaving machines.

And practically the entire manufacturing and distribution process.
The entire raw material and clothing collection system can also be transferred, but the chemical recycling process can hardly be transferred, since there are few companies in the world that are doing it.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addresses by providing local solutions
Carbon footprint originated from the transport of goods.
Especially the transport of garments of Asian origin, as well as the transport of raw materials outside of Spain.
Reduce dependence on the extraction of natural resources for the transformation of textile PET.
Energy reduction by using renewable sources such as solar panels in all our industrial partners.
Reduction of Water and above all respect the standards of humanity and social that local companies must have.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images (or other types of visual representations, if images are not possible) to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
{Empty}

By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the project and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their projects, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted project, is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes