As a driver of development, Audi has already proven itself in the past with many innovative solutions that emphasized the sustainable values of the premium car brand. The advantage of its innovations is the fact that Audi combines support for the circular economy and the wishes and needs of the user at the heart of product development. The goal is clear: the Audi brand wants to become the leading provider of sustainable premium e-mobility, and the commitment to sustainable development and progress is reflected at all levels.
On World Earth Day stamp Audi represents project Let's use used, with which it demonstrates its commitment to sustainable development, high-tech advances and the use of recycled materials even outside the automotive field. In collaboration with a prestigious unique designer Mario Herzog the collection was created on Slovenian soil fifty unique Audi travel bags, made from used advertising banners. The project is synonymous with progress, which represents the common value of all participants in the story Let's use used.
Frank Bolta, director of the Audi brand, explained the background of the story and the concept of the project Let's use used in the following words: "Audi is a long-standing partner of the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup and this cooperation is marked with advertising banners at the competitions. During this time, the overall image of the brand changed and we thought it was a shame that used banners would end up in a landfill and burden the environment, since they are basically made of quality material. We thought about what we could do with them and came up with the idea that we could make high-quality bags that would be usefully used by fans of the Audi brand in the future. The wish is for every employee to internalize the brand's sustainable values and for everyone to think about what they can do positively for the environment. Each of us works this way, and in the Audi Slovenia team, while thinking about sustainable development, we came up with the idea of how to use used advertising banners."
Maria Herzog, a unique designer and maker of high-quality shoes, who in his handicraft workshop resurrected advertising banners in the form of a new product with a completely new purpose, connects progress with handicrafts as well: "Manufacturing, craftsmanship is what shaped man, what defines us and comes directly from nature. Basically, handicraft is a direct extension of nature - it takes from nature and returns to nature. Progress is not just about inventing completely new things. Above all, it's about improving the way we bring to life an already invented thing in an original way, so that it will have a positive impact on the world in a new guise."
Representative of the YouSea Institute, Irene Fonda, which has always been associated with the sea and thinks about advanced solutions for environmental protection, sees an important message in the project: "This is not a waste material, it's basically a kind of maturing of the materials. When making bags from advertising banners, progress is also linked to creativity. The fact that you manage to make something else out of something is essentially a transformation. Like a caterpillar, when it develops into a butterfly.”
Let's use used
Project Let's use used represents an innovative approach to sustainable development that focuses on the reuse of materials and environmental protection. The main idea of the project is based on reuse of disused advertising banners, which Audi once used in FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup competitions. These banners were then sent to the shoe workshop of Mario Herzog, a renowned designer of high quality custom shoes, where they were transformed into premium material to create fifty completely unique travel bags. Each of them is special and unique in its design form and appearance, elegant with pattern prints on the banners, which gives it the dignity of both brands that swear by tradition, quality and innovation.
The project presents an innovative solution to environmental challenges, as it focuses on the reuse of materials that otherwise end up in landfills. In addition to re-using the banners, they also used various high-quality lining materials, which are leftovers from larger series from factories, as well as high-quality leather scraps that had accumulated in the workshop, to supplement the quality.
In line with its mission of sustainable development, Audi will offer a limited edition on World Oceans Day eleven Audi travel bags at a charity auction, the funds of which will be allocated to the institution YouSea for the creation and installation of a marine oasis to preserve the marine ecosystem in the Gulf of Piran. It is a pilot project with which the institute's colleagues, together with external institutions, want to investigate its multiplicative positive effects on the environment. They will discover ways to contribute to a more sustainable way of growing food in the future and investigate the performance of such structures in removing carbon dioxide from the sea and their cleaning capacity. In degraded areas, the self-cleaning capacity of the sea could be increased, its quality and restoration could be improved.
The remaining thirty-nine unique travel bags will be available for purchase in the online store. Information about the start of sales of Audi travel bags made from recycled materials will be published later on the website progress.audi.si. This will complete the entire cycle of sustainable use of materials: we will reduce the number of waste materials, reuse them in new products and find ways to create a positive impact on the environment with them.
Project website Let's use used can be viewed at: progress.audi.si.
