Hong Kong Sustainable Activewear Brand Transforms Plastic Waste Into Leggings

Launched in October, Good Days is a new activewear brand recycling post-consumer plastic waste into leggings, tops and sports bras. Based in Hong Kong and partnering with sustainable suppliers in Taiwan and ethical manufacturers in Indonesia, the sportswear brand is a sportswear label dedicated to championing a circular economy. 

Founded by Libby Perry, a former brand manager at Lane Crawford, Good Days is looking to lead Hong Kong’s sustainable athletic apparel sector with its new brand. Officially launched last month, its initial conscious activewear collection is made up of 30 mix-and-match pieces, from leggings to vest tops and sports bras, coming in a variety of trendy tones and bearing modern minimalist designs that are meant to last.

The range of fabrics used to craft Good Days’ garments all contain recycled plastics that have been recovered, such as abandoned ghost fishing nets in the ocean to single-use plastic bottles. The recycled polyester called TopGreen in their leggings and bra tops, for instance, are sourced from FENC in Taiwan, a supplier that repurposes and repolymerises 100% traceable post-consumer plastic into new yarns who is accredited with the Global Recycling Standard, SCS Global, Oeko-Tex Standard 100 and the Taiwanese EPA Green Mark.

Our goal is to divert plastic which would otherwise have ended up in landfill or in oceans, repurposing it into a high-quality product with a long life.

Good Days

A small portion of nylon used in the collection comes from Italian supplier Carvico JL, who turns industrial waste, ghost nets and carpets into 100% regenerated yarns. Certified organic cotton is the only virgin material used in the collection for the vest tops, and are blended with recycled polyester made from plastic waste. 

“Our goal is to divert plastic which would otherwise have ended up in landfill or in oceans, repurposing it into a high-quality product with a long life,” the company says.

To further their mission to combat plastic pollution, the company avoids the use of disposable plastic packaging altogether by sending all their orders in non-toxic compostable mailers made from cassava starch sourced from Bali, which are certified by The Australian Standard for their ability to decompose within 3 to 6 months in a home compost, and in less than 2 years in the landfill. Operating as an online store that ships across Southeast Asia and Europe, every delivery is also packaged in a reusable tote bag made from repurposed rice sacks.

When asked by Green Queen about the microplastic footprint that the recycled synthetic fibres could have, founder Perry told us they are aware of the issue and working to solve it as best they can: “This is certainly a predicament we are very conscious of. We are stocking the Guppyfriend washing bags on our site which are a scientifically proven solution for filtering microplastics during washing.” 

Read: Turkish company Arçelik develops washing machine that keeps microplastics out of oceans

“We include details on all products pages of how to reduce the impact of fibre shedding through better washing practices  – lower temperature, lower spin, use of a filter washing bag,” she added. 

Activewear that is produced ethically, using fabrics which use minimal new resources, instead contributing to a circular economy by taking problematic waste products such as plastic bottles and transforming them into something new.

Libby Perry, Founder of Good Days

Beyond making sure their materials are sustainable, the company works with Balinese manufacturers that are specialised in eco-friendly practices and uphold ethical standards. Leftover fabric offcuts in the production process are all donated to charity groups in the region to remake them into new saleable items, such as BIWA, an association dedicated to underprivileged communities in Bali. Good Days adds that employees in the factory are paid fair wages, overtime salaries and free medical insurance in a safe working environment. 

In addition, as a 1% for the Planet member company, Good Days donates at least one percent of their gross annual revenue to approved charities working on environmental projects all around the world, and that this commitment remains whether the company is profitable or not – a pledge that will no doubt appeal to Asia’s rising group of conscious consumers. 

“My goal in launching Good Days is to equip you with beautiful, functional, high performance activewear that will inspire you to move,” said Perry in a recent social media post. “Activewear that is produced ethically, using fabrics which use minimal new resources, instead contributing to a circular economy by taking problematic waste products such as plastic bottles and transforming them into something new.”

Correction: this article and its title have been updated to reflect that Good Day are not Hong Kong’s first recycled fabric activewear brand- in fact Tsunami Sport is the city’s rPET sports apparel brand and producer, with operations since 2005.

All images courtesy of Good Days.