{"id":289976,"date":"2020-09-21T11:52:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T10:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/cycle-sustainably-with-our-guide-to-the-best-brands-making-environmentally-friendly-kit\/"},"modified":"2020-09-24T09:12:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T13:12:45","slug":"cycle-sustainably-with-our-guide-to-the-best-brands-making-environmentally-friendly-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/cycle-sustainably-with-our-guide-to-the-best-brands-making-environmentally-friendly-kit\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycle Sustainably With Our Guide To the Best Brands Making Environmentally Friendly Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aside from walking, you can’t beat cycling<\/a> when it comes to environmentally-friendly modes of transport. According to the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, a car driving an average of 12,500 miles per year will expend 11,450 pounds of carbon dioxide, while transportation accounts for 33 percent of CO2 emissions in America.<\/p>\n

And so if you’ve started cycling or have for many years due to these environmental concerns, you might be wondering what more you can do to lower your carbon footprint<\/a>. This is where your kit can come into play and the materials that are used to make it.<\/p>\n

Skintight lycra and spandex have been mainstays in cycling gear for decades now, as cyclists, pro and amateur, look to its aerodynamic properties to boost their marginal gains. As a petroleum-based polymer, it’s not a sustainable fabric though, and when blended with other fabrics it’s very difficult (and expensive) to recycle and reuse.<\/p>\n

Another repeat offender commonly used in cycling, nylon, creates nitrous oxide during its production, a greenhouse gas 310 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It all adds up.<\/p>\n

So it’s refreshing to see a large swathe of cycling brands bring sustainability<\/a> into the core of their business. Here we highlight eight of them so you can take a 360 approach to your environmental-friendliness.<\/p>\n

8 Sustainable Cycling Brands To Check Out<\/h2>\n

Isadore<\/h3>\n

Founded by former elite cyclists Peter and Martin Velits, the idea of Isadore<\/a> revolves around the sort of kit the pair had always wanted to race in. Using sustainable materials is important to the Slovakian brand, including a whole line of bibs and cycling jerseys made from completely recycled Lycra.<\/p>\n

Locality is too, with its HQ based just 500 metres away from their manufacturer, which is quite literally going the extra mile, well, not even that, to be environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n

Howies<\/h3>\n

Most waterproof jackets are treated with a fluorocarbon-based repellent to make them repel water. The problem here is that fluorocarbons slowly drain away from the fabrics and find their way into the water system, bioaccumulating in the environment before entering the food chain to cause all sorts of problems for both wildlife and people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Active and outerwear brand Howies make their\u00a0<\/span>waterproof cycling jacket<\/span><\/a>\u00a0out of a water-repellent, breathable membrane fabric that is fluorocarbon free. It might seem like a small adjustment, but it’s one with cumulative, real-life consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Universal Colours<\/h3>\n

Launched in 2020, Universal Colours<\/a> is a hip, new cycling apparel brand you’d do well to cotton onto. Their slogan, “considerately sourced, progressively designed”, is a neat summary, with recycled fabrics approved by sustainable standards authority Bluesign, and slick, minimalist branding reproduced in a range of millennial-friendly shades. Cycling, but make it uber chic (and environmentally-friendly).<\/p>\n