Closing the loop: Discussing sustainable cycling apparel with Velor founder Tom Leezer

Once in a while, you hear or see someone sharing something that really grabs your attention. Tom Leezer, the founder of Velor, did just this. With interest more than peaked, Simon Cox sat down for a chat with the former professional cyclist who’s on a mission to make sustainable cycling apparel, achieved through pioneering recycling techniques.

This piece first appeared in the July edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here

Tom, can you give BikeBiz readers a brief introduction to Velor and an outline of the vision for the future?

So we started three years ago with the idea of creating the most sustainable cycling jersey, and, in our minds, it needs to be fully circular because if it’s not circular then at the end of life it either gets dumped or incinerated. In a lot of cases incinerated. 

How do you arrive at this point? Why an apparel brand, and why a world-first fully circular cycling jersey?

I was a pro cyclist, riding at WorldTour level, from a young age. At a certain point I, and some of my teammates, realised that when sponsors changed the team often had new kit which was now unusable – that this kit was now waste, needing to be disposed of. 

Beyond our team environment, when clothing is disposed of as waste,  this often means it gets burnt. 

Back in our pro cycling world, at the beginning of the next season we get supplied with a host of new kit – all individually packaged in plastic bags. It always happens, but at a certain point we – myself and a few teammates – now think to ourselves ‘this isn’t good’. 

Maybe it is age. Maybe it is the people we surround ourselves with. I was still the same person, but my thinking had changed. Some of my teammates also. 

From the middle of my career, I began taking my empty gel wrappers with me to the stage finish. A few teammates did the same. Maybe it’s because this (sustainability) was growing in volume and visibility as a public conversation in my home country, the Netherlands.

Sustainability can be a challenging message around which to build a consumer product. What’s your take on this?

It definitely takes some consideration. 

We always had one clear goal: Making the most sustainable cyclewear. First, we explored making a difference by using plastic waste and recycling it to make jerseys. 

In parallel, we worked away at our circular mission (the first time we retrieved polyester from a jersey was almost two years ago).

Looking at the product, and our messaging, we found a way to build strong audience engagement – everyone has an old cycling jersey they no longer use, lying around at the bottom of a cupboard.  

When we mention this it’s immediately relatable. Making it more personal, and more relatable, drove engagement up significantly. So, the words are really important. 

Now Velor mentions that we can reuse this (or at least the polyester) to create something new. The responses are very, very, good. 

We want to pioneer a circular cycling jersey. We want to engage an audience in a sustainability initiative. We want it to matter to them. With the shift in focus and messaging, we hit these targets.

This shift, from ocean plastic to old jersey recycling, led you to work with a pioneering Swiss recycling business called GR3N.

Exactly. And what we are doing with GR3N is breaking new ground. 

First, we work to retrieve the polyester, separating other fabrics, and dyes. I’m skipping several steps here as we have already removed zips and other attachments. No easy task in itself. Quick to say, but not to do. 

As GR3N explain: “Starting from post-consumer cycling apparel, we depolymerized it into rTPA and rMEG, and then we re-polymerized it into virgin-like PET in our facility in Albese con Cassano.”

Two years ago we managed to do it (remove the polyester) with one Jersey. This was really about seeing if it’s possible with this technique.

Separating out the fiber types, and any other elements, is critical if you are to have usable yarn for the new product. Impurities mean you get different tensile strength in the yarn – it is inconsistent in its strength under load. That isn’t viable as a to-be-woven product. 

Last year we scaled the process with 300 jerseys. If that sounds small, it is. Yet it is also a big stride forward. Nobody is currently doing this. Our next step is 5000 jerseys, which is 500kg. This takes us much closer to the industrial scale. 

By 2027 we aim to have production at scale. A plant working as would for a global textiles business. For context, industrial machines run from half a ton to a ton in load. Some machines even do a ton per hour. 

How are you mapping the customer journey for your jerseys? You already have pre-order options with Velor. Do you see a similar model with the fully circular jerseys?

As a brand, we’re developing how we stay connected with our pre-order customers. It takes different thinking than the instant purchase, linear production, approach. 

The good news is that people who are keen on pre-order are more likely to be invested in, and bonded to, the brands they choose to spend money with. There is a connection people make when searching out brands and businesses that work this way. A great way to differentiate and stand out as a brand and a business. 

For our circular jersey, we’ll offer an approach common already in the Netherlands. When you return a glass bottle you get a cash credit. When our customers return an old jersey they will also receive a cash credit on their circular jersey purchase. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRSSmWk5kZU

Ending where we started, your video promoting the world’s first circular cycling jersey…

I should say that we thought about hiring someone for the video. Why? Simple.  I’m not an actor. That said, I’m glad we didn’t. I’m the face of a business, of a brand. Being a founder is different. People connect with that. 

Taking that a logical step further, when you’re a business working on pre-orders and a long goal pioneering sustainability programme this means a lot. Your values, the things that make you you, are what draw many people to your business, and keep them engaged. 

The dynamics of the relationship – where the business is built around pre-order products and a pioneering sustainability programme – have moved far beyond just adding an item into a basket, paying, and receiving the item within 24 hours. The commitment here is really low. 

Customer loyalty is talked about a lot. How loyal are people when there is almost zero barrier to acquisition of something, where reducing customer effort and friction is the primary focus of many e-commerce businesses? 

We want to connect with people looking for much more from the business they choose to spend their money with and share their passion for cycling with. 

Being different is a superpower. Working to develop a world-first fully circular cycling jersey is a commitment to our sport and the impact we have.  

For us, it would also be great if we inspire others, and our wider industry to do things differently.