Cycling likes to call itself a green sport.
Yet behind that image, one fact hasn't moved: almost every technical jersey on the market is still cut from virgin, petroleum-based polyester. Recycled plastic bottles look reassuring on a hangtag, but they don't close anything — they just move plastic from one industry into another that never gives it back. That's not an eco-responsible jersey. That's relabeled waste.
~4 min read · Jump to: Raison d'être · How it's made · The numbers · FAQ · Shop
An Eco-Responsible Jersey Starts With a Different Question
In 2020, VELOR built its whole reason for being around one uncomfortable question: what if a worn-out jersey could become a new jersey — not a bottle, not insulation, not landfill? A real closed loop, where the resource never leaves the circuit. At the time, the industry's answer was that it couldn't be done at scale for a technical, high-performance textile. RELOV exists because we didn't accept that answer.
That founding conviction is also why "green innovation" means something specific to us: not a marketing layer added at the end, but the actual engineering problem we set out to solve. You can read more about how that mission shapes VELOR's whole approach to circularity in cycling and the sportswear model we're trying to change, or revisit the original story of how RELOV went from idea to first jersey.
The Real Innovation: A Closed Loop, Not a Green Label
RELOV isn't another "made with recycled materials" jersey. It's a full value chain, redesigned around a single rule: never create a new resource when one already exists in circulation. Here's how the loop actually works.
How the RELOV Loop Works
- Collection — Worn jerseys are collected in France and the Netherlands, managed directly by VELOR.
- Preparation — The textile is sorted and prepared in France.
- Chemical recycling — This is where everything changes. Our partners break polyester down to its base molecules — not shredded, not melted, but dismantled at the molecular level to recreate a genuinely new-quality raw material.
- Spinning — that raw material becomes fibre again.
- Knitting — the fibre becomes a high-performance technical fabric.
- Assembly — the fabric becomes the finished jersey.
- End of life — the RELOV jersey returns to collection, and the loop closes again.
100% European. 100% traceable, from first thread to last wear. If you want the material science behind why this matters more than a "recycled" hangtag, we break it down in what GRS-certified recycled polyester actually is, and why it's better for the planet and for you.
Measured, Not Marketed
We don't like green claims without proof, so RELOV's impact was independently measured by Maastricht University, working directly with our supply chain partners.
- −68% CO₂ compared to an equivalent standard jersey.
- 85% recycled textile waste in every jersey produced.
- 100% recyclable, in a closed loop.
- ~0.9 kg CO₂e per jersey, versus roughly 2.8 kg for a conventional jersey.
Independent study, Maastricht University, in collaboration with our suppliers.
This is the same discipline we apply across the brand — see how we track and report our wider footprint in VELOR's measurable commitment to the circular economy.
Why This Is a Breakthrough, Not Just an Improvement
Most "sustainable jerseys" on the market run on the same logic: recycle a plastic bottle into textile polyester. That's an improvement — it is not a solution. Once a bottle leaves the plastic-recycling loop and enters textiles, it never comes back out. It ends its life in landfill or incineration, one single-use step later than before.
RELOV reverses that logic. Recycled textile stays in textile. We don't borrow from another industry, and we extract no virgin resource. What already exists in circulation stays in circulation, indefinitely. That's real circularity — not a label, a process.
Same Price. A Different Choice.
The RELOV jersey is priced at €139 — the same as a conventional high-end jersey made in Asia from virgin materials. That identical price hides a very different reality: where a standard jersey funds marketing and margin, RELOV funds a recycled supply chain and 100% European production. Same price. But one choice funds an image, and the other funds an eco-responsible supply chain.
Ready to make the switch? RELOV starts at €139.
Shop the Eco-Responsible JerseyFrequently Asked Questions
What makes RELOV an eco-responsible jersey?
RELOV is made by chemically recycling textile waste — old jerseys — back into virgin-quality polyester fibre, then spinning, knitting and assembling it in Europe. Nothing is extracted, nothing is new: it's a genuine closed loop, not just a jersey containing some recycled content.
Is RELOV really different from "recycled bottle" jerseys?
Yes. Bottle-to-textile recycling moves plastic out of the bottle-recycling loop and into textiles, where it dead-ends in landfill or incineration. RELOV keeps textile in the textile loop, so the same material can be recycled again at the jersey's end of life.
How is the RELOV jersey's environmental impact measured?
Independently, by Maastricht University in collaboration with VELOR's supply chain partners: −68% CO₂ versus a standard jersey, 85% recycled textile content, and around 0.9 kg CO₂e per jersey versus roughly 2.8 kg for a conventional one.
How much does the RELOV eco-responsible jersey cost, and where is it made?
€139 — the same price as a conventional high-end jersey made from virgin materials in Asia. RELOV is 100% produced in Europe, from collection to assembly.
Go Further
If the eco-responsible angle is what brought you here, these go deeper: why buying eco-responsible cycling clothing matters, five years of circular cycling with VELOR × Cycling for Climate, and — once you own one — how to wash a recycled polyester jersey the right way, so it lasts long enough to eventually re-enter the loop itself.
Shop the RELOV Eco-Responsible Jersey
Available for men and women, in Forest and Dunes. €139 · free from virgin polyester · made in Europe.
