Circular textile for Way Out West officials
During this year's edition of the Way Out West music festival, the festival's 1,500 officials are wearing circular t-shirts, the result of a collaboration between Wargön Innovation, Dvala rent & reprint and Luger, the organizer behind Way Out West, with the aim of finding resource-efficient alternatives to the traditional official shirt.
- The important thing for us when it comes to sustainability work is long-term solutions. We want to find ways to implement more climate-friendly ways of working that ultimately actually streamline and improve festival infrastructure and operations. This in turn creates an economic benefit in choosing sustainability - and it is these solutions that will make the biggest difference in our industry," says Kimmie Winroth, project manager for Way Out West and initiator of the collaboration with Wargön Innovation.
As the iconic music festival Way Out West enters its 17th year in Gothenburg, more than 65,000 visitors are expected to visit Slottsskogen between August 8 and 10. The festival has invested heavily in sustainability issues since its inception in 2007 and in recent years has had an increasing focus on the environmental impact of its textile consumption. This year's initiative means that the festival officials' shirts come from second hand and deadstock. They are also printed with a generic print without the year, which enables collection after the festival so that they can be used again next year, and hopefully many years after that.
- Innovative solutions that extend the life of garments have great potential for reducing environmental impact - life cycle analysis calculations show that up to 80% of a garment's carbon footprint occurs in the production phase. Wargön Innovation's focus in this work has been to identify the obstacles to the implementation of circular business models in a concrete case such as Way Out West to more clearly identify what is needed for a company to be able to implement resource-efficient textile purchases, says Caroline Düberg Martinsson, Innovation Manager at Wargön Innovation.
Circular services create resource-efficient value chain
Through Wargön Innovation's network, Luger came into contact with a number of companies working with circular offers, but the choice eventually fell on Dvala rent & reprint, a start-up company in Vänersborg whose business idea is to rent out and reprint clothes for the event industry. For this year's edition of Way Out West, Dvala rent & reprint was given the task of sourcing, printing and distributing black t-shirts to the festival's officials, and after the festival also collecting, reconditioning and storing the officials' shirts so that they can be reused next year.
- "For me, it's a fantastic opportunity to work with one of the biggest players in events Sweden today. Together we can drive a sustainable transition in the event industry, which is the core of Dvala's business concept, says Victoria Fagerlind, founder of Dvala rent & reprint.
By shifting from linear products to circular services, a value chain can be created that is both resource-efficient and commercially viable. A transition that does not only need to include textiles but can change the entire event industry.
Want to know more about the partnership?
Caroline Düberg Martinsson, Innovation Manager Wargön Innovation - caroline.duberg@wargoninnovation.se, 076-800 98 28
Kimmie Winroth, Project Manager Way Out West/Luger - kimmie@luger.se, 0709-238 264
Victoria Fagerlind, founder Dvala rent & reprint - info@dvala.se, 0766-15 10 03
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The work is taking place within the framework of the project Innovation environment for sustainable production and circular flows, a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Region Västra Götaland, Vänersborg Municipality and the Fyrbodals Municipal Association, and as part of Region Västra Götaland's challenge "Circular design and new business".