Way Out West seeks partners for circular officials' shirts
Way Out West is now taking the next step in strengthening its sustainability work. In 2012, they took the first step towards becoming a sustainable festival when they were the first in Sweden to serve only vegetarian food. This year, they are raising the bar even further to reduce their environmental impact by using already produced t-shirts as official shirts. In collaboration with Luger, Wargön Innovation is exploring innovative strategies to reduce textile resource consumption in the event industry.
Wargön Innovation works daily to find innovative solutions to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the textile industry, including finding new and efficient ways for garments to be used as many times as possible. This year, a project exploring the possibilities of extending the life of garments is being carried out together with Luger, the organizer of the Way Out West music festival, a festival known for its focus on sustainability. As part of its sustainability efforts, Way Out West has in recent years explored ways to reduce the climate impact of textiles at the festival. Two years ago, Luger started a collaboration with Elis and Science Park Borås to create upcycled functional clothing for the Greentopia climate meeting. Last year, all festival merch consisted of recycled second-hand garments. In collaboration with Science Park Borås, Göteborgs Stadsmission and F/ACT Movement, Luger offered visitors the opportunity to buy second-hand garments as official merchandise and also print the festival logo on their own clothes, with the aim of reducing emissions from festival merch and challenging the image of what classic festival merch actually looks like.
Next steps towards a circular festival
The work with reused festival merch continues this year, and together with Wargön Innovation, Way Out West is taking further steps to reduce the climate impact of textiles by using second-hand t-shirts for the 1,500 volunteers who work at the festival every year.
- By opting out of newly produced t-shirts, we take responsibility for developing our industry in the right direction and show that it is possible to utilize existing resources and thus reduce the pressure on the environment and climate, says Kimmie Winroth, project manager for Way Out West at Luger.
Producing a single cotton t-shirt requires around 2,700 liters of fresh water, the equivalent of a person's drinking water needs for 2.5 years, while a recycled t-shirt has about 70 times less environmental impact. By using garments that have already been produced, major savings are made on the climate and the environment. The goal for this year's Way Out West is to collect 1,500 second-hand t-shirts with the help of Elis, Göteborgs Stadsmission and Textile Movement, among others.
- We need to find ways for a more resource-efficient consumption of textiles and ensure that the products already produced are actually used. At Wargön Innovation, we work to strengthen resource-efficient flows and use various automation and digitization techniques to streamline and quality-assure the valuation of used textiles. If we can create uniform product groups and quality levels, we create the conditions for linear business models to find ways to the circular ones, says Caroline Düberg Martinsson, Innovation Manager at Wargön Innovation.
In parallel with the collection of second-hand t-shirts for the officials at Way Out West, Wargön Innovation and Luger will work on issues related to challenges and opportunities in more resource-efficient flows, and the possibilities for creating a circular value chain that is both resource-smart and profitable.
Is your company interested in contributing to making the event industry more circular and sustainable? Read more below or contact Kimmie Winroth to find out more.
The work is part 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 Fyrbodal Municipal Association.