Circular economy
The future of sustainable sports and outdoor industry is circular. We have a strong ambition to reduce the environmental impacts of our products and strive continuously towards closing the loop in all materials we use.
Our goal is to have 100% of our products designed for circularity by the end of 2030. This means that we design all products against our Circular Economy Principles. We are actively adopting circular economy practices and continuously seeking new alternatives on how our products can be designed, re-used, or kept in circulation in other ways, as laid out in our these principles.
By following our Circular Economy Principles, we will reduce waste, increase resource productivity, and help reduce our environmental impact. As part of Amer Sports’ elevated sustainability ambitions, we will revise these principles in 2023.
Amer Sports Circular Economy Principles
Advanced: Based on the sustainability impact assessment, we continuously seek low-impact alternatives for design, development, and production processes.
Advanced: We seek to systematically improve resource efficiency across all elements of operations and throughout the supply chain.
Advanced: We design and develop products with a total lifecycle approach, including easy repairability.
Advanced: We use a service model and sharing platforms to reduce our impact and improve the value we provide to our customers
Advanced: We close the loop at the end of product life by developing our capabilities to remanufacture or upgrade products, and by designing recyclable products.
We put our principles into practice
Our brands have several concrete examples of how we’ve put our Circular Economy Principles into practice:
The entire shoe can be separated into two parts at the end of its life. The bottom unit can be ground into tiny pieces and then used in the creation of a Salomon alpine ski boot, for example. The upper part, made from polyester, can be recycled into other products. Salomon has organized the take-back of the products directly with consumers.
To follow this success, Salomon is developing a full range of circular shoes: the Index Break. Salomon is also developing the concept of a fully recyclable helmet and several other fully recyclable winter sports gear items.
Salomon continues to develop its second-hand market through its outlets, where it sells second-hand ski gear that is taken back from its retailers at the end of each season.
Together with Atomic, Salomon is also continuously investigating how to increase the use of recycled materials in their boot manufacturing processes. Both have recently developed processes to increase the use of recycled plastic in ski boot constructions.
Peak Performance has created a circularity grading system to classify its products into three different levels according to their maturity. Currently, 84% of all products are reaching Level 1 or Level 2, where more sustainable materials are used and the production is done in an energy-efficient manner while using less water and chemicals. In Level 3—the end-goal for most products—all circular principles have been met.
Peak Performance works continuously on their circular principles. The brand has hosted product-specific workshops with all its teams to increase awareness and demonstrate progress.
WearAgains is Peak Performance’s second-hand concept where consumers can buy and sell pre-owned Peak Performance products. It is the next level of Peak Performance’s longevity and circularity program, giving pre-owned and pre-loved items a new life. Peak Performance also works to reduce the number of product samples used for marketing and has started to replace them with 3D sampling solutions.
Peak Performance is a member of Global Fashion Agenda’s Circular Fashion Partnership which provides its members the opportunity to achieve a long-term, scalable transition to a circular fashion system.
Since 2020, Arc’teryx has launched several upcycled products made from leftover materials. The products are made from pre-consumer waste like fabric offcuts, and post-consumer waste from jackets that are no longer usable.
Arc’teryx has also brought attention to circularity in fashion by launching special services and organizing themed events. In 2021, Arc’teryx opened the first ReBird™ Service Center in one of its New York stores. The center provides complimentary on-site product assessment and education, connecting customers to the brand’s ongoing commitment to circularity, including upcycling, resale, and care and repair. In 2022 Arc’teryx opened five new ReBird™ Service Centers in Canada, China, and Japan.
Read more about Arc’teryx’s ReBird™ service
Wilson and RecycleBalls partnered to collect, recycle, and repurpose tennis balls across the United States. The Wilson/RecycleBalls partnership aims to recycle 15 million tennis balls in the U.S. from 2019 to 2025. The balls, which are specifically collected at US Open tournaments, are separated, ground up, and used to resurface tennis courts around the United States.
Wilson Team Sports also plans to launch basketball product lines that utilize recycled material in its basketballs and in its packaging. This will complement packaging reduction efforts by removing protective poly bags and using smaller packaging, achieved by deflating the basketballs before shipping them to the customer.
The aim is to identify the factors that cause the most significant environmental impact on skis. The LCA includes material flow analysis, energy demand, and logistics, as well as the transportation of goods, materials, and personnel.
Read more about the LCA project in Atomic’s impact statement
Atomic is also exploring a ski recycling project with the purpose of finding out how to re-use or utilize the materials and different components used in the products. On top of that, Atomic is doing research on how to use alternative materials for various ski parts.