China - July 23, 2024

Chinese firm recycles waste materials to produce fiber for Olympic uniforms

(Voice_over)

This is the uniform that Chinese athletes will wear on the awards podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It’s officially named the "Champions Dragon Outfit," and is carbon-neutral… made by recyclable materials. A company in Zhejiang Province provides them.

The firm also made uniforms for Chinese athletes at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

(Sound_bite)

Hu Xiaochun, Sales Manager, Zhejiang Texwell Textile:

"This is the uniform for Chinese medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. It’s two fabrics laminated together, and is both warm and windproof. We laminated fleece and plain fabric together, making sure it has stiffness and warmth."

(Voice_over)

The company now produces 500 types of fabric, and keeps innovating new functional ones for athletes. Apart from clothes for the awards podium, it’s also providing materials for China’s swimming team and French athletes.

(Sound_bite)

Hu Xiaochun, Sales Manager, Zhejiang Texwell Textile:

"This is the fabric used on the uniform that we supply to Chinese swimmers, a fabric that makes sure the heat does not dissipate too quickly. We’ve also provided a piece of fabric for the host country, France, for their athletes to wear which is also a moisture-wicking and quick-drying fabric."

(Stand_up)

Wu Bin, Reporter:

"As the industry is going green, more recyclable materials are also used to make clothes. For example, these two fabrics used in the Paris Olympics are actually made from plastic bottles."

(Voice_over)

The staff from the research and development center explain how.

(Sound_bite)

Song Boshi, Manager, R&D Center, Zhejiang Texwell Textile:

"The bottles we drink every day are recycled, sorted, and then sliced by the equipment. As I show in my hand, the bottles are first made into flakes, and then decontaminated to produce recycled chips. After that, it’s put into the production process of silk extraction, then spun into yarn by the yarn factory, and then further processed into fabrics."

(Voice_over)

For the first half of 2024, Song says the company has invested over 22-million yuan, more than 3-million US dollars, into research and development, accounting for 5.6-percent of sales revenue. And, they say they’re proud to contribute to the Olympics.

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