This collaboration demonstrates that manufacturers can meet the increasing demand for more sustainable sportswear without compromising durability.
Team Sonnenwagen Aachen, a solar racing collective from RWTH Aachen and FH Aachen, Germany, is on a mission to advance sustainable mobility solutions and become world champions. This August, the student team will participate in the 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, a biannual 3,000-kilometer race across the Australian outback. During the five-day event, 50 student teams from around the world will compete with solar vehicles that they must design, assemble, and drive themselves.
Just last week, Team Sonnenwagen unveiled their new solar car, the Aethon, which they will take to this year’s race. However, for the team to secure victory, several factors must align. In addition to the car itself, the team requires suitable apparel. To meet this need, Huafeng, a Chinese textile technology company, will supply Team Sonnenwagen with high-performance sports shoes, shorts, and trousers that offer a reduced CO2 footprint compared to conventional sportswear.
Reflecting on the longstanding partnership between Huafeng, Cyclone, and Covestro, Dr Torsten Pohl, Head of Global Textile Coatings at Covestro, said, “The new sports kit looks fantastic! By incorporating our partially bio-based Impranil CQ PU dispersion into its textile coatings and using recycled yarns from Cyclone, Huafeng has successfully achieved an excellent balance of high performance, aesthetic appeal, and low environmental impact. This collaboration demonstrates that manufacturers can meet the increasing demand for more sustainable sportswear without compromising durability, style, or performance.â€
Huafeng created Team Sonnenwagen’s 2025 sports kit using yarns supplied by Cyclone, a yarn manufacturing partner. Cyclone produced these yarns from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) from plastic bottles collected in Fujian Province, China. Additionally, Cyclone employs a dope-dyeing technique for its yarns, which uses 57 per cent less energy, 77 per cent less water, and generates 51 per cent lower CO2 emissions than traditional dyeing techniques. The dyed fabric is then finished with Huafeng’s HAPTIC ink, which contains a partially bio-based PU dispersion supplied by Covestro, Team Sonnenwagen’s core sponsor and supporter since 2017.
To help Team Sonnenwagen stand out on the racetrack, Huafeng embellished its shorts, sports shoes, and trousers with screen-printed designs created using its HAPTIC ink. Huafeng can create stunning three-dimensional design effects using this ink while reducing environmental impact. This is because Huafeng developed its HAPTIC textile coating system using the partly bio-based Impranil CQ DLS/1 resin from Covestro, which has a 38 per cent lower carbon footprint than standard grade Impranil. For Team Sonnenwagen, this won’t be the first time it has encountered Covestro products; partly bio-based PU dispersions from Covestro are also used in the textile material that covers the steering wheel in the team’s solar car.
Dr Thomas Schmidt, Director of Innovation & Creation at Huafeng, commented on the recent collaboration, “By using partly bio-based Impranil CQ solutions from Covestro, we’re pioneering sustainable textiles with innovations such as HAPTIC Art ink. This ink formulation delivers a reduced CO2 footprint, offers extensive customizability, and can be used in high-performance textiles like sportswear.â€
The collaboration between Huafeng, Cyclone, and Covestro demonstrates that combining innovative manufacturing with partly recycled fabrics and partly bio-based textile coatings helps manufacturers create more sustainable sportswear while ensuring performance, durability, comfort, and style. With the right equipment and support, Team Sonnenwagen is well prepared to take the pole position in the race this August.