Kelly Benefit Strategies goes greener

U.S. Continental squad Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast will race in jerseys manufactured red from a new kind of fabric designed to lessen the team's impact on the environment. The new jersey, produced by Wisconsin based company Mt. Borah Custom is hand-made from a knit fabric consisting of 47 percent recycled fibres from post consumer and post-industrial waste.

As opposed to other green fabric alternatives derived from materials such as bamboo and coconut that can use toxic chemicals in overseas production processes, the post-consumer recycled jersey is manufactured in a clean process that, Mt. Borah estimates saves two gallons of gasoline in machine production for every 12 jerseys made.

"We're always looking for ways to be greener," said team performance director Jonas Carney. "We schedule our season logistics to reduce air and road travel as much as possible and try to eat local produce in each market. When we heard about the new recycled jersey fabric, it just made instant sense to us. We're eager to see how they perform when they make their debut in Philly Week."

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The team is currently putting the new jersey through its paces at the Commerce Bank Triple crown series and will travel from there to the Nature Valley GP in Minnesota.

"We spent a lot of time researching fabrics which were being marketed as green," says Chris Jackson of Mt. Borah Custom. "But, in the end, our focus was on recycled fabrics rather than some of the alternatives out there based on natural materials. Those can use a lot of energy or chemicals during the fabric manufacturing process. We're thrilled with the end result and look forward to hopefully seeing our jerseys on a race podium soon."