Be Like Bono With Playback Recycled Concert Wear

The New York company makes clothes in colors like Water Cooler Blue.

You're probably familiar with the extra large T-shirt purchased at a concert that starts to wear out after one trip through the washer. Some musicians are trying to redefine the T-shirts of old with ones made under sustainable practices.

Among them are U2, Wilco, Phish and Dave Matthews Band. They're buying their shirts from a Brooklyn, New York-based company called Playback, which produces apparel through recycling. The T-shirts are made using old soda bottles. Hoodies are made from leftover cotton scraps. Long-sleeve sweatshirts are made using old x-ray film. Additional chemical dyes are left out.

That means the clothing comes in natural, unique colors like "Beer Bottle Brown," "Soda Bottle Green" and "Water Cooler Blue."

After all, records aren't selling like they used to (see mp3s and file sharing), and bands are relying more on merchandise to bring in bucks. Why not sell stuff that's better quality and more planet positive? Or, as Playback calls it, clothing that "oozes love and devotion to the planet."

Playback clothing is designed to be worn for years, the company says. We're talking double-needle stitching, minimal shrinkage, antique brass zippers, grommets and tips, extra-thick draw chords and elastic cuffs.

Playback is Gore-wear, too. It was started by Adam Siskind after he saw the Al Gore documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." Siskind had been using recycled yarn in his clothing business, and realized the idea could be expanded into a more sustainable clothing line.

And sustainable isn't just a slogan for these guys and gals. A life cycle analysis of Playback products conducted by Yale University graduate students concluded that Playback sweatshirts outperformed conventionally made sweatshirts in 23 of 25 environmental categories including global warming potential, waste generated and fossil fuels used.

The company has sold more than 100,000 shirts so far this year, and estimates its clothing has saved more than 856,000 bottles and more than 71 million pounds of textile scraps from the landfill.

How do they do it? That's a patent-pending process. But one that you can wear on your back, for about $75. The shirts are sold at concert venues and via artist web sites. -planetgreen.discovery