Wilson Launches Gen Green Collection Of Equipment

Wilson has added a bit of sugarcane to its new collection of sustainably minded line of sports equipment. The newly launching Gen Green collection of basketballs, footballs, volleyballs and soccer balls features a trio of more environmentally friendly materials, including repurposed plastic, recycled rubber and a biobased sugarcane product never before used in sports equipment.

“The products perform exactly the same as current models at the respective price points,” Kevin Krysiak, senior director of research and development at Wilson, tells me. “The goal of the Gen Green collection was to better design products for the environment, utilizing materials and constructions that introduce recycled content and biobased alternatives, ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions during the manufacturing process.”

The collection features the NBA Forge Plus Eco and NBA DRV Pro Eco basketballs, NFL Stride Pro Eco and NFL Ignition Pro Eco footballs, Shoreline Eco volleyball and NCAA Vantage soccer ball. Select Gen Green products use at least 2.75 repurposed plastic water bottles. Wilson-owned Luxilon also introduced its new Luxilon Eco Power Racket String for tennis made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.

One of the key materials in the ball collection is the biobased ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam developed by Braskem and made from sugarcane. This product generates two times less carbon dioxide emissions than conventional EVA foam.

Biobased EVA is a first for Wilson and the Chicago-based company is using the Braskem product that has been popular in footwear with Allbirds, Adidas and Puma for the new collection of sports equipment.

The entire Gen Green collection falls under the $50 price point and doesn’t give up any performance benefits, Krysiak says. “This collection performs at the highest level for their respective product categories,” he says, adding that the development timeline and evaluation of these technologies require longer development times and field testing before implementation in elite-level products.

Ensuring each product remained affordable was a key part of the effort. “This was very important to implement into the Gen Green collection, as other sustainably minded products industry-wide are more expensive,” Krysiak says. “We didn’t want consumers paying a higher price point to have access to more sustainable solutions. We want this collection to be accessible.”

Each sport required different material sourcing. The recycled rubber features in the NBA DRV Pro Eco basketball, while the repurposed plastic highlights the NBA Forge Plus Eco basketball and NFL Stride Pro Eco football. The sugarcane-based EVA foam appears in the volleyball, soccer ball and NFL Ignition Pro Eco football.

“Designing products that are better for the environment is definitely a long-term strategic play for the brand,” Krysiak says. “We are learning as much as we can, continuing to research and develop for the next generations products, materials and constructions that will take steps to further reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, as well as limit the impact we have on the environment.”

To kick it all off, Wilson has not only embraced recycled and repurposed materials in the range of sports equipment, but also a healthy share of sugarcane.