Claude Luthar is the creator of CFV, a new life for your balls. The goal of the company: to offer furniture (benches, stools, chairs) with a structure designed 100% steel and a patented seat 100% reused tennis balls.

For Padel Magazine, he looks back on the birth of this eco-responsible and ingenious project.

15 million balls used each year in France

I am 54 years old, I have been playing tennis since the age of 17, my 15 year old daughter is ranked 1/6, so we consume a lot of balls over a year.

One morning in November 2022, passing in front of my boxes of used balls (waiting for a 2nd life) in my garage, I sat down on my wooden bench and there... the idea came to me to create benches with all those balls.

I knew that there were approximately 15 million balls used each year in France, including 60 during Roland-Garros, and The growth of padel will further increase these numbers.

Eco-responsible benches, built from bales of padel or tennis

The balls are first drilled and then mounted on a steel rod. I designed these products (I am a teacher in a vocational high school in mechanical engineering and CAD) with the idea of ​​minimizing the environmental impacts as much as possible: tennis balls or padel are reused, the structure of the benches and chairs is made of steel, the design is clean, the paint is solvent-free, the manufacturing processes are simple and the industrial partners are local. A workshop and painting specialist friend arrived as reinforcements.

CFV bench
Seated CFV

Competitors' products often contain plastics, none reuse tennis balls in the design. I have filed a patent for this second life bale seating design. Plus, it's super comfortable!

CFV stool
CFV bale benches
CFV balls

A comprehensive offer

The 2 cm 120-seater bench is €225 excl. VAT, the chair and stool at €180 excl. VAT. You can add a folder in bales at 75 € HT. There are also options for linking the benches together and adding drink shelves.

Customers include tennis clubs and padel, major sports brands, communities, and even some physiotherapists' waiting rooms. I hope to be listed on the Proshop FFT purchasing center in 2023. A friend from the tennis world joined the project for the customer relations aspect.

CFV second life balls

What's next?

Take the time to present the products in clubs, sports stores and offer several colors for the balls. I will also offer a small drilling kit so that everyone can drill and replace their balls whenever they want. It's easy, just unscrew!

Want to test the products?

Just make a request through website contact form and we lend you free of charge (except shipping costs) benches, chairs and stools (within the limit of available stocks).

CFV a new life for your balls
Eleonore Coulibaly

What a pleasure to be a journalist in the middle of the padel, an attractive growing sport. I hope you enjoy the content offered. See you soon perhaps on the slopes!

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