Taiwanese startup Double Dribble has made a business out of upcycling discarded basketballs into a range of custom, handmade products.
Plant pots, keyrings, handbags: you don’t need to be a basketball fan to recognize the orange rubber in all these designs. They’re part of a collection by Double Dribble, a design company putting upcycling and sustainability at the heart of their business.
Out of their new base in Taipei’s Songshan Cultural Market, the company’s three founders run workshops teaching others their craft. What began as a design school project is now a flourishing enterprise, thanks partly to a US$18,000 loan from the government.
Co-founder Huang Wei-yu says Double Dribble aims to recycle each ball without downgrading the material in the process. He says each new product preserves the ball’s unique character.
Double Dribble mostly uses discarded basketballs for its designs, along with the odd volleyball or American football. Each ball is different, and turning them into viable products takes time and patience.
Huang says they have to cut each ball to size, before cleaning and trimming it further. He says it’s a very labor-intensive process.
But none of those difficulties have stopped customers from wanting to take part. Double Dribble runs “do it yourself” courses, teaching people how to turn a tired old basketball into a hanging planter.
With more and more commissions coming in by the day, Double Dribble is showing Taiwan how to make upcycling a slam-dunk success.