Why sportswear?
KLABU sportswear emerged from a need in refugee camps for suitable clothing to play sports. Instead of relying on other brands, we chose to create our own. This way, we could create a true club feeling: bringing everyone together in one team. As we are now scaling up, we are making sustainability a core focus in all facets of KLABU sportswear.
The main reason why we started KLABU sportswear is that it has the benefit that we can tell the story of the athletes in the camps through our products - helping us to make sure that their voices are being heard.
By also selling sportswear to the rest of the world, we can make our story tangible and generate income. Instead of being fully reliant on donations and funding from sponsors, we want to become a healthy organisation that can have long-term impact. Developing and selling KLABU products gives us a level of independence - with a long-term goal to become fully self-sustaining.
Additionally, as more people wear KLABU sportswear, our story spreads, and we build bridges. Wearing KLABU allows you to support refugees on their path to a better future and be part of our community.
At the same time, we are aware that creating apparel has a negative impact on the planet. Eliminating this impact entirely is impossible and no amount of effort is 'enough,' but we are committed to finding persistent solutions.
In the sections below, you will find our efforts towards making our processes greener. It is not an exhaustive list of measures, but instead a work in progress. To start with, we focus on Reduce, Recycle and Repurpose. These steps are simple, adaptable, easy to remember, and within reach, enabling us to make easy adjustments with a powerful impact on our planet’s sustainability.
All our new sportswear is made from 100% recycled PET
KLABU community members Onyekachi and Alex
At the same time, we are aware that creating apparel has a negative impact on the planet. Eliminating this impact entirely is impossible and no amount of effort is 'enough,' but we are committed to finding persistent solutions.
In the sections below, you will find our efforts towards making our processes greener. It is not an exhaustive list of measures, but instead a work in progress. To start with, we focus on Reduce, Recycle and Repurpose. These steps are simple, adaptable, easy to remember, and within reach, enabling us to make easy adjustments with a powerful impact on our planet’s sustainability.
Reduce - as a social enterprise with a focus on sports, we do not function as a fashion brand with no overproduction accountability.
There’s no seasonal collection at KLABU, no outdated stock, and hence a longer life cycle for each product. Every piece of our sportswear receives a lot of thought and consideration before we produce it. Our products have stories and purpose behind them which enables us to be very mindful of what we produce and how much we produce. This doesn’t only reduce production but also reduces waste.
Recycle - all our new sportswear is made with actual 100% recycled PET, instead of PET from bottles that are produced only for recycling.
The latter is quite a common practice today owing to the convenience of the process, and only adds to the problem.
We have also opted for 100% biodegradable polybags for the majority of our packaging. The majority of our sportswear production takes place in Europe or Turkey, which contributes to a reduced environmental footprint. And all our cotton products use 100% organic cotton.
Repurpose - we invite people to send us any KLABU sportswear items lying around which they don’t use anymore. We find purpose in them through upcycling them into new products or using them for our sports projects.
In the past, together with the designer Blood In Blood Out we have upcycled old jerseys into new ones. We are currently working on plans to create more collections of upcycled sportswear with Amsterdam based social enterprises.
Upcycled KLABU x Blood In Blood Out collection
