Wollerau/Munich, 10. November 2010 – The first ecological packaging concept to win the Green GOOD DESIGN Award in the USA

The efficient communication of X-BIONIC packaging stands for a visionary concept and sustainable design. At first glance: it is in fact more functional than most functional clothing. It provides protection, information and explanations thereby making many catalogues superfluous. The message is sent directly to the customer. Something the Chicago Athenaeum regards as forward-looking and exemplary. The Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies have therefore awarded the Swiss specialist in functional clothing the internationally contested Green GOOD DESIGN™ Award.

Only intelligent design is good design.

The Bauhaus Lamp, the Alessi Bowl, the Swiss Army Knife – great ideas are always simple. Just like the E.CO Efficient Communication Concept from X-BIONIC. After all, top athletes don’t carry any unnecessary baggage on their way to victory. Likewise, top products should concentrate on what is essential. Printing indiscriminately distributed and overloaded catalogues is meanwhile as cost-inefficient as it is no longer ecologically justifiable. Or when was the last time you read a catalogue from start to finish when you wanted to buy a new jacket for your winter holidays?

Although retailers and consumers alike were initially appalled by the disproportionate amount of packaging, the E.CO concept saves up to 650 tonnes of paper a year. Energy-optimised machinery, some of which relies on solar power, manufactures the packaging using at least 80% recycled waste paper. A pioneering success whose enormous savings potential has already been confirmed by the independent GS test agency Hansecontrol-Cert X-BIONIC. And as is so often the case where great design ideas are involved, we ask ourselves: Why doesn’t everyone do that?

The environmental Oscar goes to …

The Green GOOD DESIGN™ Award distinguishes pioneers with visionary product ideas. Sustainable design which creates a public awareness of environmental protection – these criteria are perfectly complied with by the E.CO packaging concept. The award is presented by the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design – as is the world’s best-known design prize, the Green GOOD DESIGN™ Award. Apart from X-BIONIC, some of the world’s most important manufacturers, design companies and Fortune 500 corporations have also received this award. Thousands of entries from 46 countries – and this Swiss hotbed of innovation is among the winners.

By winners for winners

Where others only have colourful blobs, X-BIONIC relies entirely on functions. This also applies for the packaging on which the patented X-BIONIC technologies are explained in a smart and space-saving manner in line with the motto claiming that details are no mere minor matters – they are the product. In easily comprehensible texts and self-explanatory graphics, even complex product contexts such as the new X-BIONIC partial compression can be experienced directly by any buyer. The well-designing folding concept transforms shopping in the sports store into an exciting experience. And the contents keep the promise made by the high-quality packaging concept: innovations such as the 3D-BionicSphere® system support athletes during high performance by means of effective temperature management: cooling you down when you sweat and warming you up when you’re cold.