Along with the rest of the fashion industry, the sneaker-hype machine has turned its focus to sustainability. Brands from Louis Vuitton to Adidas have released more “sustainable” sneakers, mostly by incorporating recycled materials. But using waste to make shoes doesn’t address the worst way sneakers plague the environment: the mountains of old shoes sitting in landfill. Now, however, some brands are trying to address that precise problem.
It is estimated that of the 25m pairs of trainers imported to Australia every year, 90% are not recycled. That’s because recycling is not even a possibility, says Tansy Hoskins, the author of Foot Work: What Your Shoes are Doing to the World. “The way brands make shoes means they are very hard to recycle – often dozens of types of materials are glued or bonded together, and metal is used which makes shredding very difficult.” That dizzying combination of plastic, leather, rubber, foam, metal and adhesives means sneakers could also take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, making it highly likely almost every trainer you’ve ever owned is still kicking around somewhere.
While some groups, including the Australian Sporting Goods Association, have begun collecting old sneakers, shredding them and turning them into basketball courts, children’s play mats and other types of flooring, the holy grail of circularity is keeping materials at their highest value. In other words, designing sneakers that can be recycled back into sneakers. International brands, from Nike to Salomon, are on board with the idea of circular sneakers, albeit with varying degrees of success. Designing a shoe that can be recycled is only the first step.
To read the full story, visit https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/jan/05/running-in-circles-the-race-to-create-a-recyclable-sneaker.
Author: Lucianne Tonti, The Guardian
Photo by Warren Jones on Unsplash