Chinese Olympic team to wear sustainable uniforms for Rio 2016 Olympics

A new collaboration was announced this week for the design of champion uniforms for the Chinese Olympic team using a sustainable fibre made with renewable materials.

DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Chinese sports brand Anta will collaborate for this initiative, working on DuPont’s fibre Sorona.

The innovative fibre is sustainable, soft, durable and stretchy and it will compose most of the Chinese team’s “Dragon Uniform” for the Rio Olympics,

Anta Sports has been an official partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee for seven years and it has been working closely with the Chinese sports delegations for many international competitions.

The brand has shown dedication in applying sports science and innovation in the development of high-performance and comfortable sports suits, and DuPont has been providing its Sorona fibre as the raw material for Anta for the last four years.

James Zheng, president of Anta said: “By incorporating DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced fibres in the Olympic champion uniform for the Chinese delegation, we hope to incorporate the concepts of health, environment and public welfare into our champion uniforms, so that the ‘Dragon Uniform’ is more meaningful.”

Dennis Tsai, DuPont™ Sorona® Asia-Pacific regional director said: “Sustainability is not just a concept; it also can bring real value to consumers by the brands that adopt sustainably sourced materials... Sorona® brings unique performance innovations and properties to fabric mills and brand houses in a way that is on-trend and meets market needs.”

The company DuPont has been a leader in the textile industry for many years, having invented fibres such as nylon, lycra, kevlar and rayon.

DuPont is also trying to develop sustainable materials that compose more everyday life products, and thanks to its collaboration with Anta, the company has created sports apparel applications that were successfully launched into the mainstream Chinese consumer market.