Here at iRunFar headquarters we like a good “green” story almost as much as we like gear. So you can imagine we’re pretty jazzed when a story like that of Atayne crosses our path.
Atayne is an Arlington, Virginia based start up that makes technical shirts using recycled plastic and non-toxic chemicals. The Atayne story begins with a red shirt the toxic dye from which bled significantly the first time that Atayne co-founder, Jeremy Litchfield, wore it. From there, Atayne developed a pair of men’s and women’s technical tops that are made from recycled plastic and use Cocona (activated carbon from coconut shells) as a microbial inhibitor. Having tried one of these shirts, we can attest that it fits well, wicks moisture adequately, and doesn’t smell any worse than other technical shirts treated with silver or other nasty stuff. In other words, it’s a fully functioning tech shirt that comes without the guilt of buying a virgin-petroleum based shirt as well as the comfort of that comes from not being exposed to any nasty chemicals.
One of our favorite things about Atayne’s Point of View line of shirts are their slogans. The one we tried read “Run Hard, Tread Lightly,” while our favorite, the 4R shirt reads, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Run.” Kinda catchy, huh? All of Atayne’s shirts are currently offered in moss (green), glacier (blue), and stone (gray). You can buy the shirts from Atayne for $38 – about what name brand tech shirts go for these days. You can get free shipping on any Atayne order by entering the code – friendirunfar – in the Coupon Code/Promotional Code Field when you check out.
Beginning shortly, after your Atayne shirt (or any other polyester-based performance shirt) has seen its last run Atayne will take it back and give you a $5 credit towards buying a new Atayne shirt. We think that’s an awfully good way to build a cradle-to-cradle model for a product.
Atayne is also trying to be a good steward outside of the clothing realm. For instance, the company held a competition at a race this summer to see which team could collect the most trash along the course. (Read about it.) Rumor is Atayne will hold a trash collection event in the DC metro area later this fall. We hope that happens.
To learn more about the company and their shirts, you can go to the Atayne website. You can also learn more about Atayne and its co-founders by reading their Atayne oriented blogs:
- The Story of a Red Shirt – Jeremy Litchfield – A good way to get updates re where Atayne is and where they want it to go. It’s also interesting for the in-depth, behind the scenes account of an entrepreneurial experience.
- Polka Dot Shorts – Mike Hall – Only one post so far, but you simply must watch the video in the post’s The Motivation section.
So what do y’all think of Atayne? Anyone else tried their shirts? Anyone going to?
