FISH SHOP

Unless governments and industry act over preventing ocean pollution, these warning signs may be coming to a fish counter near you.
One confirmed source of plastic ocean pollution are the shedding of millions of microplastic particles from washing our polyester (synthetic) clothing. Which are mistaken for food by aquatic life and enter our food chain.
#polyesteroceanpollutant
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JUST DOING NOWT WONT WASH

The first time professor Sherri Mason cut open a Great Lakes fish, she was alarmed at what she found. Synthetic fibres were everywhere. Under a microscope, they seemed to be “weaving themselves into the gastrointestinal tract”.

Synthetic microfibres are particularly dangerous because they have the potential to poison the food chain. The fibres’ size also allows them to be readily consumed by fish and other wildlife. These plastic fibres have the potential to bioaccumulate, concentrating toxins in the bodies of larger animals, higher up the food chain.

While some fashion brands are now advocating the use of recycled plastic bottles to make their synthetic apparel, as a way to conserve and reduce waste, this latest research indicates that the plastic might ultimately end up in the oceans anyway, and in a form that’s even more likely to cause problems.

Breaking a plastic bottle into millions of fibrous bits of plastic might prove to be worse than doing nothing at all.

Polyester, the primary component of outdoor / sportswear fabrics showed up as a major ocean pollutant.

Mark Browne, the researcher responsible for first bringing microfibres to public attention, said that the grace period is over.

“We know that these are the most abundant forms of debris – that they are in the environment,” Brown said. He added that government and industry must be asked to explain “what they are going to be doing about it”.
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FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

On Page 147 of the PGA Tour Player Handbook, in the Conduct of Players section, there is a list of things players shall not do.
No. 3 on that list, all of which are "subject to a suspension from tournament play for a minimum of two seasons," states the following:

"Associate with or have dealings with persons whose activities, including gambling, might reflect adversely upon the integrity of the game of golf."
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WATERPROOFING YOUR CLOTHING

You can't make it up. Fashion brands used highly persistent and toxic PFC chemical C8 (also known as PFOA / PFOS) to obtain waterproofing properties for your clothing. After 30 years it has been banned, so what did the apparel brands do? They used another persistent toxic PFC from the same chemical family called C6.
And as with PFC C8 they will not disclose the use of C6 to their customers. Over the summer we will be contacting outdoor / sportswear brands and asking which PFC's are you using?
Feel free to join in and ask your favourite brand.
‪#‎disclosure‬ ‪#‎pfc‬ ‪#‎carcinogen‬ ‪#‎bioaccumulative‬ ‪#‎waterproofing‬
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FOOTBALL IS NOT COMING HOME

If The FA had asked us to design England’s shirt for the 2016 football European Championships in France, we would have proposed something like this. Granted it is a controversial design, with a ‘gladiatorial feel’. It could be made in England, where textile workers are paid a living wage and European environmental regulations ensure reduced pollution during manufacture.

Unfortunately the FA decided to take millions from US brand Nike to supply England football team shirts for the next few years. They will argue the money from Nike will be put to good use in grass root football projects across England. But how about considering that Nike pay slave wages to their textile workers in Asia, and decide to manufacture in countries where environmental regulations are non-existent. The money they save manufacturing shirts this way enables them to pay organisations like the FA money to secure sponsorship deals.

So here’s our alternative, an England shirt made in England, manufactured to European environmental standards and with more personality than the boring offering from Nike. Lipstick for players is optional.
#golfrefugees #football #england
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TAKING THE URINE

No professional golfer as ever been blood tested for doping, until now. And only if they are going to compete at the 2016 Olympics.

Some performance enhancing drugs are only detectable via blood testing.

The sport's ruling bodies were criticised by two-time major winner Greg Norman for not taking the threat of doping seriously enough.

Neither the PGA Tour or European Tour publishes details of the number of drug tests it carries out during a year.

Governing body the R&A does not publish details of how many tests it conducts at The Open Championship.

The International Golf Federation (IGF) will run the drug-testing programme for the Olympics, beginning 13 weeks before the Games. It will include blood testing (at the moment there are only urine tests in golf).
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THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

European championships have started and there are lots of kids enjoying the sunshine playing football in the park. But why are we providing football shirts which will last for hundreds of years, use 30 or more untested, hidden, combinations of hazardous chemicals and every time you wash the plastic 'polyester' shirts they shed thousands of microplastic particles which contribute to ocean pollution?

There must be a better way.to enjoy the beautiful game
#dontwashpolyester

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DISCLOSURE IS COMING

Coming soon our new sportswear range 'Disclosure'.

Forget about Nike, Adidas, Puma and many others. They do not have the balls. We will be the first and perhaps the most naive, to disclose the pay / hours of garment workers and the classification of the chemicals used.

Consumers need to be informed. All textiles use hazardous chemicals. It is crazy, to us, that fashion brands do not have to inform the customer about how their clothes are made and what they are made from.

In our own little way, we are going to change this. We may not sell a single shirt because of this disclosure. As consumers may wrongly believe that we are the only sportswear brand to use chemicals.

Would you buy and wear a sports shirt that uses carcinogen and hormone disruptor chemicals? You already do.
‪#‎disclosure‬ ‪#‎golfrefugees‬
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PROGRESS

Progress. A few weeks ago we held a meeting in London with a textile guru and identified a specific biodegradable natural fabric we were interested in testing for sport applications. We have now managed to locate a few metres of this fabric in Europe, and will be making a small number of shirts to test this summer.

One of the important performance parameters for sportswear is to keep athletes feeling dry / cool whilst exercising. This particular fabric, like many others, uses a chemical finish to achieve this. If successful in testing, our aim is to make sport shirts available to the market with our disclosure label.

The information provided to consumers will include pay / hours garment workers and the classification of the chemicals used. We believe it will be the first time any brand has voluntarily offered this data to customers on a clothing label.
As part of our project, we will also be working with 'green' chemistry companies to develop alternative textile finishers.

To conclude, our aim is to provide a biodegradable fabric capable of keeping athletes cool / dry. Give consumers information on how the garment is manufactured and what chemicals are used.

The dominant fabric in sportswear is polyester, which sheds microplastic particles when washed polluting oceans, it is non-biodegradable and each synthetic sport shirt uses between 20-40 hidden chemicals.

There is a better way to play sport.
#disclosurelabel #golfrefugees
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