Winqs, a new brand of footwear, apparel and accessories that aims to cover many sports categories, hopes to replace traditional materials with much more expensive yet fully sustainable ones, without sacrificing performance or raising prices too much. The Berlin-based brand told the Swedish trade paper Sportfack that all of its materials are either bio-based or recycled. A co-founder, Jan Kratochvil, said: “We want to trigger customers to question the messages that come from the major producers.” The brand’s first products, due for release in October, will be a running shoe with a sole made of castor oil and training jerseys made of eucalyptus fibers. Next will be a running shirt made of lyocell and a water bottle and sports bag made of recycled plastic. In the spring of 2022 Winqs plans to release Zerofly, a running shoe (€130-150) with a sole manufactured by Michelin with castor oil and recycled rubber through a carbon-neutral procedure. After that will come a sports sock made of seaweed instead of plastic. Winqs’ textiles are manufactured in Europe, and its recycled plastic comes from the oceans of Southeast Asia. The target markets for now are German-speaking Europe (the DACH region) and Scandinavia, with sales generated through the Winqs website and resellers. Both Kratochvil and his fellow founder, Marek Brincil, hail from the Czech Republic and have worked for Salming in Sweden.

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