Australian Open 2020: Organizers using sustainable T-shirts from Tirupur for ball boys, girls and court side statiscians
by Vinay Chhabaria
What's the story?
The new decade's first Grand Slam, Australian Open 2020, is underway Down Under where the biggest names of the tennis world are battling against each other. While the focus of the fans is majorly on stars like Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the tennis universe might have missed that the ball boys, girls and court-side statisticians are sporting T-shirts manufactured in Tirupur, Coimbatore.
The background
Australian Open 2020 is one of the grandest sporting events of the world which attracts the attention of the entire world. Prior to the tournament, there was a special Rally for Relief event to support the victims of the Australian bushfire and now, the organizers have once again shown their support to the environment by using T-shirts made of recycled PET bottles.
The heart of the matter
As reported by The Hindu, NC John & Sons, a Tiripur-based company used 1,88,709 PET bottles to manufacture 25,000 garments for the Australian Open. The CEO of the company, Alexander Neroth revealed that they got the order for Australian Open through one of their customers in that country. He said:
“We got the order from Tennis Australia through one of our customers in Australia. The team visited us in November last year to ensure that the entire process was green.”
Explaining the process of making the garments, the 46-year-old continued:
“We got the yarn imported from Taiwan. The fabric was knitted and dyed in Surat, and brought to Tirupur. Our team of around 100 tailors, most of them women, created the outfits based on the designs from Tennis Australia.”
He even stated that 40% of the power consumed by Tirupur-based company is from wind and solar energy.
What's next?
It is exciting to see the organizers of Australian Open 2020 take these steps to save environment. As far as the action on court is concerned, the women's singles final will take place tomorrow between Sofia Kenin and Garbine Muguruza.
Published 31 Jan 2020, 22:57 IST