W Hotels Worldwide, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
(NYSE:HOT), today announced a new partnership with global music artist
and entrepreneur will.i.am and The Coca-Cola Company to shake up the
hotel industry, one guest room at a time. Together, they are bringing
the EKOCYCLE™ brand to W Hotel rooms around the world, changing sheets
and changing minds.
W Hotels will soon begin re-making their beds with new EKOCYCLE™ branded
sheets, which are made in part with rPET (polyester partially made using
recycled plastic). Rolling out into W Hotels in North America first with
global properties to follow, each king size sheet set utilizes
approximately 31 recycled 20 oz. plastic bottles – which equates to more
than 268,000 plastic bottles across all W Hotel beds in North America.
The result is bedding that is as luxurious as it is environmentally
conscious, ensuring that guests continue to have the same incredibly
comfortable sleep they have come to expect from a night in a W Hotel
bed. Guests can rest assured that they won’t feel a difference, as the
more sustainable sheets are made using the same high quality process as
the W brand’s current bedding, with the only difference being the use of
recycled polyester instead of new polyester.
W Hotels and the EKOCYCLE™ team didn’t stop with changing the sheets.
Together, they wanted to recycle even more plastic, so they turned their
attention to the nightstand and created a colorful little bedtime
companion. The “Mobile Charger and Accessory Valet” (MCAV), is a
multi-tasking USB charging device that also acts as a jewelry/watch
stand and an alarm clock. Developed by Miniwiz, an emerging engineering
firm from Taipei focused exclusively on post-consumer recycled material
design applications, the MCAV is partially created out of three recycled
plastic bottles and is available in six colors, including gold, red, hot
pink, black, white and silver. These devices will soon be bedside in
every W Hotel room around the world, powering up devices and waking up
guests from Los Angeles to London.
“W guests want to live a stylish, more sustainable lifestyle and this
partnership is a way to allow them to do so when they are on the road,”
said Sarah Doyle, Global Brand Director of W Hotels Worldwide. “Working
with will.i.am and Coca-Cola’s EKOCYCLE™ brand allows us to ‘change’ our
sheets, reset our alarm clocks and pledge to make a difference one W
Hotel stay at a time.”
Embedded in the ethos that “waste is only waste if we waste it,” the
idea for EKOCYCLE™ was born after will.i.am was inspired to turn waste
left behind at a Black Eyed Peas gig into recycled sought-after objects
and joined forces with The Coca-Cola Company. EKOCYCLE™ has a simple
ambition: work with iconic brands to help consumers recognize that items
they consider waste today can live on as brand new lifestyle products
they can use tomorrow. As longtime partners, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
(NYSE:HOT), the parent company of W Hotels, and The Coca-Cola Company
share a similar vision when it comes to global sustainability, which
makes W and EKOCYCLE™ the perfect pair.
“I am very excited to bring the EKOCYCLE™ movement to W Hotel guests
around the world,” said will.i.am. “When it comes to finding partners
for the EKOCYCLE™ initiative, Coca-Cola and I want to work with those
who understand our message: that being more sustainable can be stylish.
The new EKOCYCLE™ sheets and chargers that will now be at W are further
proof that we can transform so much of the way we live through more
sustainable, recycled materials.”
Bea Perez, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at The
Coca-Cola Company said: “The EKOCYCLE™ brand mission is to excite and
inspire people around the idea that waste can be valuable and create
new, desirable products. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has been a
likeminded innovator of sustainable solutions and longtime partner of
Coca-Cola. We’re delighted that W Hotels is joining the EKOCYCLE™
movement and providing hotel guests worldwide with the opportunity to
experience sustainable luxury with EKOCYCLE™ brand sheets.”
The official partnership kicks off tonight with an exclusive celebration
at the flagship W New York, hosted by W Hotels, will.i.am and The
Coca-Cola Company. W New York revolutionized the hotel industry when it
debuted in 1998, making it the perfect location for yet another
hospitality revolution: this unique blending of style with
sustainability. For guests who want to continue to sleep eco-chic long
after they check out, the sheets (starting at $207) and MCAV ($75) will
soon be available for purchase online at whotelsthestore.com.
For more information about W Hotels, please visit www.whotels.com.
To learn more about the EKOCYCLE™ brand initiative, visit EKOCYCLE.com.
Join the conversation by following @WHotels @iamwill @EKOCYCLE
@CocaCola. Every change you make counts. Tell us how you will live more
sustainably in 2015 with #THREADSCOUNT.
About W Hotels Worldwide
W Hotels is a contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and the industry
innovator with 46 hotels and retreats, including 17 W-branded
residences, in the most vibrant cities and exotic destinations around
the world. Inspiring, iconic, innovative and influential, W Hotels
provides the ultimate in insider access, offering a unique mix of
cutting-edge design and passions around fashion, music and
entertainment. W Hotels offers a holistic lifestyle experience that is
integrated into the brand’s sensibility through contemporary restaurant
concepts, glamorous entertainment experiences, stylish retail concepts,
signature spas and inspiring residences. With more than 16 years of
proven success, W Hotels is on track to reach 60 hotels by 2017. W
Hotels have been announced for Changsha, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi,
Mumbai, Dubai, Jakarta, Panama, Muscat, Chengdu, Suzhou, New Delhi, and
Kuala Lumpur, while upcoming W Retreats include Goa, India. For more
information, visit www.whotels.com
or www.facebook.com/whotels.
To live the W Hotels lifestyle 24/7/365, visit www.wresidences.com.
Follow @WHotels on Twitter and Instagram.
About EKOCYCLE™:
With a shared interest in making a positive impact on our world, The
Coca-Cola Company and will.i.am have come together to create the
EKOCYCLE™ brand. The EKOCYCLE™ initiative is a platform that captures
The Coca-Cola Company’s and will.i.am’s vision of a world where waste
becomes a resource to create new things. At the core of the initiative
is the idea to partner with lifestyle brands to help promote
sustainability through aspirational, yet attainable products made in
part from recycled materials.
EKOCYCLE™ products repurpose items such as plastic bottles for use as
recycled content in fashion-forward lifestyle products through the help
of today’s biggest trendsetters and brands. To further reinforce The
Coca-Cola Company’s commitment to promote recycling, the Coke® brand
name – spelled backwards, “EKOC” – is embedded into the EKOCYCLE™
moniker.
The EKOCYCLE™ brand offers a full line of apparel and lifestyle product.
To learn more about the EKOCYCLE™ brand initiative and products visit
EKOCYCLE.com. EKOCYCLE can also be found on Facebook at
facebook.com/EKOCYCLE and Twitter at twitter/com/EKOCYCLE.
About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is the world's largest beverage company,
refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands.
Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognizable
brands, our Company's portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands
including, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater,
POWERADE, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia, Dasani, FUZE TEA and Del Valle.
Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages,
ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's
largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200
countries enjoy our beverages
at a rate of 1.9 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to
building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives
that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy
living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our
associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities
where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the
world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system
associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com,
follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo,
visit our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com
or find us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/the-coca-cola-company.
About will.i.am
A multi-faceted entertainer, creative innovator and philanthropist,
will.i.am is best known for his work with The Black Eyed Peas. As a
producer, will.i.am has also worked with some of the music industry’s
biggest names including Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Usher, Miley Cyrus,
Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, David Guetta and film composer Hans Zimmer.
Recognized and honored by numerous industry organizations for artistic,
business and philanthropic achievements, will.i.am is the recipient of
multiple GRAMMY® awards, a Latin GRAMMY® award, an Emmy® award, two
NAACP Image Awards®, the BMI® President’s Award and a CLIO Award.
will.i.am's i.am.angel™ Foundation (www.iamangelfoundation.org)
supports young people through programs focused on STEAM (science,
technology, engineering, arts, math) education via after-school tutoring
and activities that build STEAM and coding skills.
Copyright Business Wire 2015