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British sustainable sportswear brand Reflo will today partner with football club Forest Green Rovers ahead of a multi-million pound funding round.
Reflo – which boasts deals with Harry Kane, Luton Town and three Formula E teams – will partner with the Dale Vince-owned National League play-off team on a four-year deal that will see kits and apparel created from recycled materials, including pieces of former playing shirts.
Forest Green Rovers have been green pioneers under the ownership of Vince, with the world’s first vegan football club previously sporting kits made from such materials as bamboo and coffee beans.
Reflo co-founder Rory MacFadyen revealed to City AM that a Series A funding round will kick off later this month and involve athletes, high-net-worth individuals, private equity and venture capital.
Reflo Series A funding
“We’ve had a lot of interest, which is a great position to be in before we’ve even launched it,” the Reflo figure said
“It will launch over the next week or two, initially with those who have reached out to us, but we’ve got a few targets in mind as well.
“We see the world of athlete-led investments, and obviously have been in it with the likes of Harry Kane, and that’s a really interesting space that we like. We’ve also had quite a lot of interest from private equity, some venture-based companies in our space, and high net worths as well, have all approached us in one way or another.
“It’s not the most sustainable phrasing, but [we want to] fuel the fire of growth. We are experiencing massive growth, we see the opportunity and we want to double down on it. We’re looking at millions, multiple millions.”
New technology
MacFadyen explains that the Forest Green Rovers deal will make use of Reflo fibre-to-fibre technology, where textiles can be endlessly recycled if they’re produced properly in the first place.
And Reflo, which has ambitions to match the rapid rise of Gymshark and Castore to prominence, is set to benefit from an association with Vince, who made his fortune in green energy and has invested in solar and carbon capture.
“He’s a proven entrepreneur, and proven you can create green businesses that change the world and still build and grow like you’d build other businesses,” MacFadyen added.
Vince said: “In the last few years, at Forest Green Rovers, we’ve pioneered the use of different (better) materials in our first team shirts, like bamboo and even coffee grounds, the material matters.
“But what happens to the shirt at the end of its life matters as well and until now it’s been hard to square the circle.”
