Patrick Grant says goodbye to synthetic sports wear

“Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile wearing cotton shorts, a cotton vest and leather shoes,” says Patrick Grant, owner of menswear brand E Tautz and social enterprise Community Clothing. “And I played rugby as a kid wearing clothes made from all natural materials. None of us thought we were wearing rubbish stuff at the time.” 

Disillusioned with the fact that almost all sportswear available on the market today is synthetic (thus difficult to break down, meaning it often ends up in landfills or polluting the oceans), Grant, a self-described “polymer nerd” who studied material sciences at the University of Leeds, “wanted to see if it was possible to make good sportswear out of the materials we used until the late 1970s”. The result? A line of plastic-free, fully biodegradable athleisure wear. 

Community Clothing Organic Athletic has taken around five years to create. The collection, made exclusively using plant-based textile technology, comprises a range of (short) shorts (from £49), breathable T-shirts (£35) and sleeveless running vests (£29). The battle against plastic’s omnipresence was hard-won. “It’s in everything,” Grant laments, gesturing to the rib around his T-shirt’s neck – mostly sewn using polyester thread – and recalling the woven logo he had to substitute for a printed alternative, using a water based ink, because of the oil-based material used in all standard woven labels.

In developing fabrics for the collection – made from woven or knitted UK-certified organic cotton, plus a natural rubber woven in Austria for the shorts – Grant spent hours on eBay sourcing organic late ’70s sportswear, mostly from Germany, reverse-engineering each item to uncover its yarn count and assess durability. The most difficult part was reconfiguring the use of elastic. “Elastics are made from elastane, which is synthetic and oil-based,” he explains. Encouraging manufacturers to revert back to cotton threads – abandoned due to an issue with breakages – proved trying. “We had to beef up the diameter of the thread,” says Grant of improving their durability. The result is a fatter appearance, but one that has come to inform the collection’s retro aesthetic. Pieces are available in black, red or yellow, evoking vintage varsity uniforms. 

Stylist and environmental advocate Alex Carl is a fan of the project’s ideals. “Innovation doesn’t come from recycled plastic,” she says, citing this as the default approach for many brands looking for a quick, sustainable fix. “It’s about taking the time and effort to reinvent.”  

CCOA performs well both in the gym and the great outdoors. But what happens to it when it comes to the end of its life is almost the real joy. Items can be shredded and added to your compost heap, and from as little as a week (up to five months depending on soil conditions) you will leave nothing – not a thread – behind.