Wear an Indian tee made from PET bottles

Team L&M

Imagine the PET bottle you took a sip from to gulp down your favourite soft drink and threw into the garbage bin coming back to you in the form that you can wear. In times when there has been a never-ending hue and cry about the need to cut down on the use of plastic to save Mother Earth, here is a company, an INDIAN company, which has gone on to make T-shirts out of PET bottles.

Aptly named Wonder Tee and Wonder Polo, each of these T-shirts, are made from recycled polyster, each using about eight PET bottles. These T-shirts are lighter and softer than ones you conventionally wear.

A performance wear brand, Alcis Sports was launched by the promoters of Paragon Apparels Pvt Ltd, the largest manufacturer and exporter of sportswear in India. “We, at Alcis, feel proud for being the first Indian brand to have the capability and production ability to manufacture technologically advanced sportswear at affordable price points to enhance the performance of the wearer,” shares Roshan Baid, managing director, Alcis Sports.

Whereas T-shirts are generally made of polyester, production of which involves huge quantities of water, chemicals and use of fossil fuels as also the raw materials and by-products are toxic and pollute water and air, thus causing several health hazards, Wonder Tee and Wonder Polo use RPET* (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate), a strong, durable and recyclable material used for soda bottles, water bottles and food jars, making it an environment-friendly, cost-effective and safe product that performs better than 100 per cent virgin polyester.

“These are ultra-light T-shirts, weigh just 85-90 g and come with dynamic drying finish which doesn’t hold sweat and moisture for long, making them extremely comfortable to wear and easy to maintain. What’s more, these are available in the price range of Rs 399 to Rs 699 in multiple colours with anti-microbial and anti-static finishes,” he shares, The need arose with the increase in demand from consumers who were getting environmentally conscious with each passing day, he adds.

“It was getting reflected in their choices. We found out that a majority disliked virgin polyester, an energy-hungry and non-sustainable synthetic fibre so we gave them a solution at affordable prices,” says Baid.

Baid started his own fabric mill in 2012 after setting up printing and embroidery factories as he didn’t like outsourcing stuff. Plus, he wanted to bring down the cost of the end product.

“I always had the concept of having everything under one roof as it reduces a number of hassles and dependency. I was very clear about one thing that profits need to be channelised to create infrastructure and that is what I did,” he explains. Paragon Apparels today boasts of being the largest and fully integrated manufacturer of sportswear in India – from yarn to retail.

Ask Baid about the presence of this unique brand and he is quick to reply, “We have presence in over 700 outlets across India, including all leading large format stores such as Lifestyle, Shopper’s Stop, Central, Globus, Sports Station and online retail websites like jabong, myntra, amazon, flipkart. We also have eight exclusive brand stores in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Jaipur, Guwahati and Bengaluru. Not this alone, television personalities Karan Tacker and Lauren Gottlieb as well as cricketer Shikhar Dhawan are our brand ambassadors.”

On his expansion plans too, he is equally quick to revert, “We are aggressively looking to expand. Plans are on to open 15 exclusive brand stores across India and reach 1000 retailers by the end of 2018. Internationally, we have just forayed into the UAE.”

Alcis Sports was the licensed apparel merchandise partner in India for both FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. The company was also the official kit partner of the 2018 Kabaddi Dubai Masters held in Dubai.

Baid wants Alcis to be as vibrant as India is. “There is so much life, so much colour all around and that is what we, at Alcis, want to be. Alcis wants to be a part of Indian sensibilities, its people, its colours…” he signs off.