It all started in 1993 ...
Like you, we're citizens of the game. We’ve realized that being a good citizen means embracing the idea of doing more, making better choices, and in our case, being more mindful about what materials we use in our clothes and making sure that we understand the impact our clothes are making before, during, and after manufacturing.
Sustainability isn't a new concept, but recent years its become more apparent that we need to do better. Golf is one of the few sports in the world played outdoors - in nature - on a course carved from earth, surrounded by water, trees, sand, and grass - yet it’s played today mostly by golfers wearing plastic from head to toe. Unbeknownst to most, that plastic is spun into yarn called 'polyester', and the vast majority of it is what's known as 'virgin' material - that is is to say, non-recycled.
Why is that an issue? Well, using recycled materials is better because we're turning waste into a new product, in this case our clothes. The downside of recycled materials is the additional cost to collect it, clean it, process it, etc. so most companies shy away from using recycled because it's typically more expensive. At RADMOR, we don't use virgin polyester in any form. Our goal is always to utilize the best materials in the world when making our apparel, but those materials need to regenerative and biodegradable, or recycled and recyclable.
1) In the United States we throw away 11+ million tons of clothing each year (that's 80 lbs. of clothing a year per person), the majority of that being polyester. Polyester is made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common type of oil based plastic in the world. Polyester clothing takes decades, if not centuries to decompose in a landfill and is considered harmful to the environment. By comparison, cellulose fibers like cotton, lyocell, modal, bamboo, all breakdown in a fraction of the time and are considered regenerative for the environment.
2) Equally challenging is the fact that every time you wear polyester, whether it's a round of golf or a trip to the office, as well as every time you wash your garment at home, thousands of plastic microfibers enter into the environment, eventually making their way into our oceans, our soil, our water, and our food. These microfibers are the most pollutant material found in the ocean today.
We are the first, and as of this writing, the only brand in the golf industry to avoid using ‘virgin’ polyester on a garment level. We’ve also limited the amount of recycled ocean polyester and recycled nylon we use to less than 15% of our collection, and always with the option of RAD-Cycling at the end of the product life-cycle. Furthermore, we're leading the golf industry into a new era by reintroducing the long-term benefits found in our Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) Organic and Extra-Long Staple (ELS) Pima cotton apparel while incorporating more environmentally responsible performance technologies, and thereby reducing our impact on the environment.
All this without having to sacrifice quality, style, or comfort. We’re not perfect, but we like to think of ourselves as a better choice. And we know that you, like us, are ready for change. Golf Green. Wear Radmor.
Scott + Bob, Co-Founders
