ods 12 | responsible consumption
Very polluting and difficult to treat, wheels find a second life as fashion accessories thanks to the craftsmanship of de Neomatique
Tires are one of the most polluting products in our economy. They represent up to 10% of all microplastics that can be found in the seas and oceans. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, raise this figure to almost 30%.
With the aim of raising awareness about this environmental impact but also about the possibilities of the circular economy, Signus (a non-profit entity created by the main tire manufacturers for recycling in accordance with the law) has launched Neomatique, a boutique where products made from recycled tires can be purchased, ordered and customized.
This project, which has the collaboration of Slow Fashion Next (a platform for training in sustainable fashion), was born out of the concern to dispose of this waste, which is very expensive to eliminate and which also pollutes at the level of space, since it occupies a lot . “Eliminating it is quite a challenge,” says Lara Ontiveros, spokesperson for Neomatique, who recalls that the tires are made of a material made to last over time.
With these premises, those responsible for the aforementioned project began to experiment and investigate how this product could be reused in any aspect of our current lifestyle. Surfboards, furniture, decorative objects … Until, finally, he opted for fashion.
Lucía de Gustín, Designer and Creative Director of Neomatique, very focused on contemporary crafts (all her works are made by hand, using recycled materials) was the person in charge of the creative direction and shaping the products that make up part from the first collection: earrings, a bracelet, a handbag …
Ontiveros details that this first collection is the tip of the iceberg on the entire awareness platform behind it. “Neomatique is a platform that gives visibility to everything that is related to the recycled tire”, he assures.
The aim is to give visibility to all design products made with recycled tire, to the artists behind these elaborations and to facilitate access to the recycled tire itself by innovation centers. Thus, in the
project website You can find research centers that deal with these issues, companies that use 3D printing with this recycled material, laboratories …
Thus, more than a business objective, the space is designed to publicize and demonstrate everything that can be done when the useful life of a wheel has come to an end.
However, if someone is interested in one of a piece from the collection, it can be ordered and even personalized, since all these pieces are made by hand.
Soft and odorless
It should be noted that these items from Neomatique’s first collection are made with a resin encapsulated tire. This allows, according to company sources, that they are soft to the touch and do not give off any type of smell.
The tires come from Signus, a platform that, according to its own data, manages around 200,000 end-of-life tires per year, which are collected from workshops, institutions or containers. Although the entity has a recycling plant, some of them end up in the hands of research centers and innovative entities that seek to give a new life to this material.
From the Neomatique platform they acknowledge that there is “quite a lack of knowledge” about this material and its applications, such as in the case of fashion. But it ensures that the new generations of designers “are forging and training very well in the treatment and elaboration with new materials ”.
In fact, through Slow Fashion Next they are in charge of advising and training these new fashion firms on this material and its possibilities. “It is starting to generate a lot of curiosity. What we want is to be the point of reference for these designers and for any interested person to be able to find out what is happening in the sector and how they can get there ”, he details.
To give more visibility to this circular economy, Neomatique has also carried out presentations in shopping centers. In one of these actions, one of the 3D printing companies carried out live demonstrations of everything that can be printed and made when the wheels are recycled.
Although the creation of a second collection will depend more on budgetary issues, they want to continue growing as a meeting point for all companies and entities that are interested in giving a second life to used tires.
“We want to continue attracting more brands to the platform, which is free. The directory we have is still small, but more and more brands are contacting us,” says the spokesperson, for whom we are facing “a long-distance race” in the one that the challenge is to “raise awareness”.
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