As our fans may have seen, as part of the launch of Cambridge United’s shirts for next season, a new technology has been used in the production of our kits called ZEROH20. As a Club, we wanted to play our part in addressing what we have come to see as a serious issue that affects our planet, and perhaps one day, our local community.
Did you know that normally it takes 25 litres of fresh clean water to dye just one single t-shirt. And every two years it takes the entire volume of the Mediterranean Sea to colour the world’s textiles. This is simply not sustainable.
That’s why hummel, in partnership with Cambridge United FC, have now taken an important step in the direction of a more sustainable textile production by introducing ZEROH2O. Instead of using 25 litres of fresh clean water to dye each shirt, there will now be zero water consumption and zero waste-water discharges – setting a new standard for eco-efficiency and reducing energy consumption by 50%.
The brand new ZEROH2O concept is being rolled out across all hummel-sponsored professional UK clubs in the 2019/2020 season, on both replica and playing kits.
The new initiative fits well into hummel’s overall mission to Change The World Through Sport. That’s why CEO at hummel, Allan Vad Nielsen, is happy to introduce ZEROH2O:
“It’s absolutely wonderful to be able to launch the ZEROH2O campaign across all our major clubs in The United Kingdom, including Cambridge United. We have experienced tremendous positivity from all the clubs, who are all working together across colors for a greater course. We are proud to work together with the clubs and the fans to make a difference on an important issue.”
Commenting on Cambridge United’s involvement, Henry Comfort, Cambridge United’s Chief Operating Officer said:
“The more that we spent time learning about this issue as part of the tender process for our new kit supplier and the impact it is having, and will have further in future within our world, we felt that as a Club we needed to play our part to cut our water usage. We sell over 4,000 shirts per year, using well over 100,000 litres of water in the production of Cambridge United playing and replica kit that would no longer be fresh clean water to be used efficiently in our eco-system. We’re proud to be partnering with hummel to therefore play our part, through the use of ZEROH20 technology, to produce our kits for the 2019/20 season without any water usage.”
It’s known that water scarcity affects almost half of the World’s population and it’s estimated that over 800 million people do not have access to clean water close to home. These are facts that emphasize the importance of doing something about water consumption in the global fashion industry. ZEROH2O by hummel is the first step.
So when the new season kicks off after the summer break, our players will wear brand new hummel kits featuring a subtle – but meaningful – ZEROH2O logo. The ZEROH2O project is just one of more initiatives that actively aims at unfolding the hummel core mission: to CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH SPORT.