Searching for a sports trophy results in the same tired silhouette. We’ve come up with the solution.
The cost of mass-produced trophies
Much like everything else in the world, the standard sports trophy is mass-produced. Factories in Malaysia, China, and Vietnam churn out the same models in conveyor-belt fashion – all produced with little thought for both the environment and the recipient.
These trophies may be cheaper than bespoke designs, but a larger price is paid when it comes to getting them from the factory to the trophy cabinet.
China is one of the largest exporters of factory-made goods, with its shipping vessels alone emitting 78 million tonnes of CO2 annually¹. Offsetting these emissions would require over 460,000 football fields of densely planted trees – that’s over 2.9 billion trees, just for the shipping companies in China.
In addition to environmental damage, the impact on the mass-production factory workers across major production countries is often overlooked and difficult to gain full transparency into. Many are faced with long working hours, few workers’ rights and no job security.
The truth is, when buying a mass-produced sports trophy, you never really know how ethical or sustainable production is.
Sports for climate action
The UN Sports for Climate Action Commission have set a target for the global sports industry of net zero by 2040. In response, the sporting industry is working hard to reduce carbon emissions, taking responsibility into their own hands and joining the global campaign: Race to Zero³.
Liverpool FC, Golf Australia, among other huge names in international sports are all well on their way to achieving this target, and this year Formula 1 have reported that they have already reduced emissions by 26%⁴.
Different in production, different in design
When we make the conscious decision to shop for exclusive, bespoke trophies, something amazing happens. The cookie-cutter shapes of mass production melt away, and you’re left with a well-thought-out design, responsible sourcing, and lower carbon emissions resulting in really different trophies.
The catalogue of trophy options suddenly becomes limitless, with individual designers wanting to create a unique award with impact, while showing they really care about the recipient. At Upwork trophies, we can do this in a variety of ways.
- Tailor the design to suit the recipient
- Add custom graphics to represent the tournament
- Choose unique materials to reflect the sport (for instance, using e-waste to create an e-sporting trophy)
At our core, our goal is to change the landscape of trophy design and focus on the glory they represent. Our mission statement, “From Waste to Glory” highlights our desire to redefine the production of trophies, minimising the waste (that is to minimise the byproducts of mass production as well as recycling materials into something we can use for production) and ultimately creating an unusual award that stands out.
Here are 6 ways we help you to create really different trophies:
1. Your vision: This is where the journey begins. Your ideas, your vision, written down or sketched onto paper. You can even use AI to make your design more translatable than ever before, giving our designers a sharper image to work from.
2. Design expertise: Our design experts can use your design to create something actionable, using their knowledge of structure, build, and materials to turn your vision into a workable design. Our 10-step briefing process helps you to organise your thoughts, meaning if inspiration doesn’t strike, we can create something from the brief that aligns with your goals.
3. Material sourcing: We can then discuss material sourcing and, if appropriate, tailor this to your sport. For a ski championship, we may use plastics from skiing poles or helmets to provide a unique and meaningful aspect to the trophy, as well as providing a chapter in the award’s story.
4. Recycled materials: Our process means that no two awards are the same. With recycled second-life materials – and a guarantee of first-rate quality -each piece has its own individual character owed to the item it was regenerated from.
5. Material Passport: Before we create your unique award, the materials have already collected a story. By providing a material passport, we ensure that the entire journey of the award is documented and displayed.
6. Circular Life: On the rare chance that you don’t keep your trophy, our recycling program allows you to return your award to us. Not only does this help us to create trophies in unusual ways, it also completes the circular model we hold our business to in the most literal way.
Other unique Awards
We can make a trophy unlike anything you’ve ever seen, but if you’re struggling to recover from catalogue-trophy-exhaustion, we can still help you find something fresh and different.
Plaques are a great alternative to trophies, especially if you find yourself wanting to utilise words when showing gratitude. Or, if you’re looking for something a little smaller, brooches can be an excellent and unusual award choice that can help you acknowledge a winner or runner-up.
So whether you’re looking for a really different award to steer clear of overused design, or you want an award that helps to combat excess waste, our process can help you achieve your goals.
Our designers can help you create something individual and unique to your competition, award ceremony or recipient and can work with you from conception to creation, making sure you receive the trophy, brooch, medal or plaque you need.
Get in touch with us today to discuss your vision.
¹https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1405312/full
²https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37576278/soccer-stadium-pitch-becomes-300-tree-forest
³https://unfccc.int/climate-action/sectoral-engagement/sports-for-climate-action
⁴https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/formula-1-on-track-to-be-net-zero-by-2030-with-26-reduction-in-carbon.4p2vZMDrgDu6lVHLvOcLPy
