Hong Kong yoga gear brand Rumi turns plastic into fantastic apparel

For a rejuvenating and uplifting yoga experience, turn to Hong Kong-based high-performance activewear line Rumi, which makes its apparel from sustainable sources and trash, including recycled plastic bottles. So the next time someone says, "Your yoga pants are rubbish," they might actually be right.

Revealing how she came up with the idea for sustainable clothing, yoga teacher and Rumi founder Melissa Chu says, "It was clear that the clothes we wore [during yoga sessions] were not contributing positively to our yoga experience.

"Trash is a growing problem, too, so finding uses for non-biodegradable materials like plastic is a must. Plastic, once cleaned, shredded, melted and stripped into thread, is indistinguishable from polyester," adds Chu, who is from San Francisco but now calls Hong Kong home.

Rumi's high-performance leggings are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic while bamboo or beechwood viscose is used for its tops. For every tree that is cut down to make these futuristic fabrics another one is planted.