Forest Green Rovers recognised by FIFA as the “world’s greenest football club” has made the national headlines with its prototype kit from made from waste coffee grounds and recycled plastic.
The Nailsworth-based club, which went climate neutral in 2017 with the United Nations, has been working with its kit partner PlayerLayer to investigate new fabrics since unveiling the world’s first bamboo kit almost two years ago.
The coffee-based fabric has been top performer in initial tests and has been found to be lighter, breathable and more durable than its current bamboo kit. To properly put it through its paces, the club’s first-team played – and won against Colchester – in a prototype coffee kit on Saturday, at the Innocent New Lawn.
Dale Vince, Chairman, Forest Green Rovers, said: “When we pioneered bamboo with PlayerLayer two years ago it was considered a pretty revolutionary idea, and the thought of using coffee grounds is no less radical or surprising.
“It’s time the world of football wakes up and smells the coffee about the future of the planet. If nothing else, this prototype kit will bring new flavour to that old cliché of grinding out a result.”
The club will sell the match worn limited-edition prototypes with a very special coffee blend from its local rosters, Cirencester-based Rave Coffee. Proceeds will be split between Gloucestershire NHS and the charity One Tree Planted.
