Alameda Runners – Get After It!

The endurance sports community strongly embraces eco-friendly initiatives to help support the environment, with several clothing companies specializing in green clothing.  Alameda Runners recently chatted with Greenlayer, an eco-friendly company that provided tech shirts for the  Oakland Running Festival late last month.

Greenlayer today wanted to chat about some of its eco-friendly products and why the company’s clothing remains competitive with better known brands.  I first heard about the company earlier in 2010, but never saw or owned any Greenlayer clothing — until the Oakland Running Festival.

The 2010 Oakland Half Marathon long-sleeve shirts were made by Green Layer, and seem like they’re extremely high quality.

“Sustainability  is not an all or nothing proposition. If a 10,000 participant event uses 50% recycled shirts that is a measure of 5,000 shirts that are completely recycled.  It is easy to communicate this, but it is very difficult for race directors to take the plunge,” a Greenlayer spokesperson told us.  “Athletes love our shirts and apparel once a race or event uses our shirts, they get lots of positive feedback from participants about our quality and the Eco aspect.  The biggest challenge is educating directors to realize that going Eco friendly is affordable and we have found a way to do it without breaking the bank or sacrificing quality.”

There is a common belief that more eco-friendly clothing products will cost more while reducing quality – but that necessarily isn’t the case.

“It is affordable and you don’t have to sacrifice performance or quality to go green.  Also, it can be very daunting to figure out how to initiate programs or practices to be greener.  The easiest
thing you can do is start by purchasing and supporting green companies.  We have completed most of the work for you.”

Since the Oakland Half a couple of weekends ago, I see some people out jogging in their Greenlayer tech shirt.  I haven’t gone running in the shirt, but wore it to the gym last weekend.  It’s a comfortable, breathable shirt that seems to work well for both running and in the gym.

Interested customers can purchase Greenlayer products “from our web site” while also noting the company “caters to the little guys.  We have a Pro Purchase program that small teams and clubs can get wholesale prices on gear”

(If you’re interested in receiving team gear and want to place wholesale orders, I have the contact information for the person in charge.  Get in touch if interested.)

I don’t want to say I was skeptical of Greenlayer, but I definitely had my doubts about the legitimacy of its product line.  I’m glad I was able to learn the company makes good quality apparel, and can’t wait to find its other products during local events.