Make it durable. Make it desirable
Lessons from a sustainable materials specialist who worked for Patagonia, Adidas and Tesla.
Ask someone to mention a company known for innovation in sustainability and chances are that they will say Patagonia, Adidas or Tesla. All three of them have tried to change the standard in their field — outdoor clothing, performance apparel and cars — partly by rethinking the way they choose materials.
Another common denominator is Steve Richardson, an expert in sustainable materials, who have worked at all three companies during the past decade. I gave him a call to get his perspective on how the development in material innovation has changed in recent years.
- The biggest change I’ve seen is a shift from focusing solely on the performance of various products to the sustainability of the materials itself, Richardson says. He continues: And that is not only during production but during the entire life span of the product too!
While at Patagonia, he set out to understand the total environmental impact of a garment in order to have that influence how their apparel was designed. As he did his research he was amazed to find a large number of studies on life cycle assessment available to the public. As he compiled the data from various sources, one thing stuck…
