Leggings and our planet

© Mikael Abril

Is there a link between leggings – those beloved sports clothing items – and our planet? Here’s a story that helps us to see things more clearly.

Once upon a time there were two sisters who lived in a Tremblay family close to you. Stéphanie was involved in the field of television news as well as giving aerobics classes. Geneviève was studying to be an oceanographer while playing high-level university soccer. But their respective careers, although interesting, did not meet the expectations of these impassioned women.

Stéphanie dreamed of conveying the benefits of physical activity, of teaching, of moving and having human contact. Geneviève wanted to have an impact on environmental issues, founded on scientific facts. So they started working together to combine their areas of competence.

In 20013 they founded Studio Moov, a fitness operation centred on the family, a place that would allow them, among other things, to observe their clients’ clothing choices. The centre inspired the sisters and, four years later, they launched Moov Activewear, a Montreal company that designs and makes, on-site, a fabric for leggings, shorts and capris.

The fabric, called Bio-Moovflex, is 100 per cent “Made in Québec”, from raw materials to finished products.

A Québec contribution against the world disaster of plastic

How can leggings impact our environment? A recent Oceana Canada report shows that our country consumes, annually, 125 kg of plastic per person and that 87 per cent of the waste of this consumption is buried in dumpsites or rejected into the environment.

In terms of textiles, polyester is a synthetic fibre made from oil and thus comparable to plastic, and it accounts for 50 per cent of the textile fibres produced worldwide. Each time it’s washed, this synthetic fabric releases micro particles too fine to be intercepted by the water treatment plants; finally, they up in the oceans.

Oceanographer Geneviève notes that, “these micro particles in suspension are harmful to biodiversity; they pass through every step of the food chain, from microorganisms to humans. It’s a less visible form of pollution because the particles can’t be seen by the human eye. But it is still pollution and we must deal with it now because otherwise, in 2050 there will be as much plastic as fish in the oceans.”

Bio-Moovflex is a step in the right direction because it limits the liberation of plastic micro particles into the laundry water. In addition, the fabric’s durability allows it to be kept longer and, at the end of its life, it decomposes in four years compared to 400 years for fibres made from recycled bottles.

Genevieve is proud to note that Moov Activewear leggings are the first biodegradable leggings in Canada, and a step towards protecting our planet. The summer collection is available on the website.

moovactivewear.com

 

More from this author by clicking on his photo below.

Daniel Gauvreau

 

Daniel Gauvreau80 Posts

Récréologue et journaliste de formation, tour à tour organisateur, formateur, consultant, chroniqueur et traducteur dans le milieu du plein air, Daniel Gauvreau est passionné d’activité physique en extérieur. De retour d’un périple au Québec et en France, il a choisi les Hautes-Laurentides pour satisfaire son amour de la nature. Semi-retraité, moniteur de ski de fond à SFMT, son expérience profite désormais aux lecteurs de Tremblant Express. Recreation professional and journalist by education, organizer, trainer, consultant, columnist and translator about the outdoors by experience, Daniel Gavreau is passionate about physical activity outside. Following a trip through Québec and France, he chose the Hautes-Laurentides as the place to satisfy his love of nature. Semi-retired and teaching cross-country skiing with SFMT, he now offers his experience to Tremblant Express readers.

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