Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Saab has made a business out of producing fun-to-drive vehicles combining its Scandinavian design principles of form and function with responsible performance. Saab is translating those values to clothing, launching the Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection in partnership with the Swedish clothing design firm Reflective Circle’s designer Josefin Lassbo.

Putting the ‘Pure’ in the Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection:
Garments in the Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection by Saab/Reflective are made from 100 percent ecological/organic cotton, certified by Skal International. The mission of Skal is to offer certainty to the consumer that a product that indicates “organic” truly originates from an organic production process. The organization conducts independent surveys and inspections. Therefore, each step in the Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection’s production process must be taken with consideration for the environment. Fabric dyeing, printing and washing is done in an environmentally certified system.

“When Saab decided to launch a clothing collection, we wanted to do it in cooperation with someone who shares our mindset,” said Knut Simonsson, Saab Automobile AB Global Brand & Sales Operations executive director. “This partnership is not only about design or fashion; it’s also about having the same ambition: pushing an industry by innovating where other see conflict.”

Little Things Mean A Lot:
An innovative twist on the Scandinavian design principle of form and function is the Coroso Nut. The buttons in the Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection are made from Coroso nuts. Coroso nuts come from Palm trees found in the rain forests. Using these nuts to make buttons is an organic, sustainable solution to fabricating synthetic materials to make buttons. It’s a small element to be sure, but it serves to hold things together. “The benefit with the Coroso nut is that its harvest leaves the rain forest untouched,” Simonsson added. “Even more, the use of the Coroso nut gives an economic use to the rain forest and so helps to protect the rain forest.”

Performance and responsibility go hand-in-hand:
Saab has a 30-year history of turbocharging technology, which takes advantage of smaller engines to deliver higher performance and greater efficiency. Turbocharging, coupled with the use of E85 (85 percent bioethanol, 15 percent gasoline), termed Saab BioPower, fulfills the customer expectation of fun-to-drive, high-performance vehicles with the added benefit of enhanced performance and cleaner burning fuel. This is part of what Saab calls “Responsible Performance.” Customers demand quality, durability and performance from automobiles as well as clothing. Saab and Reflective Circle both work to bring innovative solutions to minimize environmental impacts, while maintaining attributes which customers demand.

Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection by Saab/Reflective:
The Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection by Saab/Reflective is women’s, men’s and unisex apparel and accessories. The clothing pieces in the first collection include T-shirts, button-down shirts, jersey shirt, ladies shirt dress and tennis shirts. Additionally, the line will grow with items such as caps, scarfs, belts, bags as well as pants and a business wear collection.

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Posted by Jigar Gondalia on 1 August, 2008 2:42:20 PM IST #