Eco-design: what is it?

At Solognac, protecting the environment is close to our heart. This involves several steps, and in particular the design of our products.

At Solognac, preserving our hunting ground is fundamental. Reducing our environmental impact: yes, but how can we do it? We do this through local actions, by reducing the use of plastic in our packaging, and through measures in our textile range.
You’re sure to hear eco-design discussed more and more, so today we decided to explain it to you!

Eco-design: what are we talking about here?

Let’s go back to the basics. Eco-design is an approach that aims to reduce the environmental impact of a product over the course of its entire life cycle, while also retaining its performance and durability. You’ll know that, for Solognac, durability is the priority in order to allow you to make the most of your hunting sessions in complete safety. To do this, there are several possible approaches. Firstly, by changing our raw materials. Then, we can also switch to manufacturing processes that have less impact on the planet: using less water in the dyeing process by dope-dyeing the thread or by only dyeing every other thread.

WHAT ARE THE MATERIALS OF THE FUTURE?

To commit within this time frame, we can use materials such as cotton from organic agriculture, recycled cotton, recycled polyester or recycled plastic.

At solognac, this has already begun!

Our products make up the most significant part of our greenhouse gas emissions. As product designers and distributors, we have a responsibility to protect and preserve our hunting ground. At Solognac, we are committed to an eco-design approach, and already have been for several years. Remember:

Canvas shoes

With a sole made from 15% recycled oyster shells
Sibir jacket 300

with a polar mesh made from 90% recycled thread and 10% recycled plastic bottles

And our fabrics of the future?

One of our targets sets out to ensure that all of our new garments will hold the ‘eco-design’ status. We are working on this every day. Here are some examples which will definitely not be the last:

ACTION ON ECO-DESIGN

The Steppe 100 range generated 3238 tonnes of CO2 emissions for its design in 2020. However, for the second version of the trousers which will be released in 2022, the fabric, made from a blend of cotton and polyester, is more durable and less polluting. A third of the polyester threads will not be dyed. What’s more, with the 'Minimal Waste Design' (MWD) method, we will reduce our fabric consumption by 16%, our CO2 impact by 15% and we will have 50% less off-cuts.

ACTION ON TRANSPORT (MADE IN FRANCE)

For us, it is important to involve our local businesses. This allows us to reduce our CO2 impact. For example, products like the Inverness 100 clogs and the Glenarm 300 boots were produced in France, in Wattrelos.

ACTION ON THE CHOICE OF RAW MATERIALS

Our new fleece 500, made from a recycled polyester component, also allowed us to start work on the 'Minimal Waste Design' at Solognac. Thanks to this technique, we have reduced the amount of material consumed in the manufacture of this product by 6%. This also means a 5% reduction in CO2 per product, a 607-tonne decrease in CO2 produced per year and 34% less off-cuts. In short, you can see it’s all positive! Similarly, for our 100 jumper, we have chosen to use a polyester fabric with the pigments integrated into thread itself: in this way, we are able to considerably reduce the use and pollution of water. This is known as the DOPE-DYED.technique. In concrete terms, we have reduced our CO2 impact by 42% for the green and brown 100 jumper

A further example is our new decoys of ducks, pigeons and crows: we have used a fully recycled and recyclable polyethylene for their design.

Other ongoing projects...

Other projects are currently being worked on or developed. In some shops, you can already find the collection terminals for PVC plastic boots. These terminals will enable used pairs to be recovered so that they can be recycled, and the material reinserted into the manufacture of new models. Now you can dispose of your products with piece of mind.

Finally, we are continuing to work on our video tutorials for maintaining and repairing our products. Our aim? That with our maintenance and repair advice, our customers will throw away fewer products and that the lifetime of products will increase. You can find these videos on our Youtube channel

The rewind project

We almost left you without telling you about the REWIND project… But the following video will provide you with all the necessary information. Watch it now!

THE REWIND BERMUDA SHORTS: GIVING THEM A SECOND LIFE!

We could talk to you about these innovations for hours, but we’ll leave a few surprises for the next products ;)