PONNEK & The Two Lives Project: Running Responsibly with SEAQUAL YARN

What is the Ponnek project?
Established in 2022 PONNEK was born out of an obsession for running and its inherent culture – with a mindset of bringing something to the Cornish running community, not taking from it. The idea for a collaboration came about as one of our founders, Niklas, crossed the finish line at an event at Dartmoor National Park and met Sam Downing, founder of PONNEK. Sharing an appreciation for nature and the sport we decided to address the fact that not enough is being done in the sportswear industry to tackle pollution and plastic waste. With PONNEK being based near the sea it seemed fitting to address the issue of ocean plastic waste.

Who is behind Two Lives, and what is their vision for sustainable sportswear?

Two Lives was founded in 2019 in London by creatives Niklas Vila Karpe and Tina Lilienthal with the aim to address the vast amount of waste being created by the fashion industry, which today is the world’s second largest polluter. According to Fashion Revolution an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is created annually, and every second the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned globally. Having seen wasteful practices first hand at factories worldwide it is our mission to give textile waste a second life by reusing and upcycling textile leftovers, reprocessing unsold stock, and eliminating deadstock.
We believe that existing systems are no longer fit for purpose as they were designed for a retail reality that no longer exists. We need to think of supply as something dynamic, responsive, and variable rather than static and create a circular approach. Upcycling textile waste reduces the impact on the environment making the manufacturing process more sustainable. We are turning waste into a commodity by remaking it into beautiful, high-quality products.

What motivated Two Lives to choose SEAQUAL YARN for their sustainable sportswear collection?

Through our manufacturing partner in Portugal. Ponnek being based near the sea in Cornwall, and two lives standing for sustainability, we thought this would be a great collaboration as it showcases more responsible practises in sourcing and manufacturing. That coupled with a short supply chain, made in the EU for the EU (Portugal to UK) send a strong messages as to what both brands stand for. We hope this will inspire more brands to adopt similar practises and talk about it. We believe in order to improve this industry there should be a focus on education, from the manufacturer and brand, all the way to the retailer and the end consumer. All items came with a QR code enabling access to further information about the collaboration.

What are your future projects with the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE?

We are looking to continue working in collaboration with Ponnek and Seaqual fabrics as well as potentially launching a two lives capsule collection early next year.