Adidas launches new fully recyclable shoe
Sportswear giant Adidas has launched a fully recyclable sustainablerunning shoe as part of its ‘Made to be Remade’ project.
The Adidas UltraBoost DNA Loop, was unveiled as part of the sportswearbrand’s new
Creators Club Week
, and have been created from asingle material with zero glue. This means that the high-performance shoescan be returned to Adidas at the end of their use to be broken down andreused to create new trainers.
James Carnes, Adidas vice president of brand strategy, said in astatement: “We don’t think of UltraBoost DNA Loop as simply ahigh-performance running shoe, but as an experience where every owner playsa vital part.
“To make this a success we need to understand the human element, howpeople can be encouraged to return the shoes to be recycled,because while we control the creation, we can only influence what happenswhen the shoes leave us. We can’t get there alone.”
With that the human element in mind, Adidas is inviting up to 1,500Adidas Creator Club members to take part in a beta test. This it stateswill help shape the future of the ‘Made to be Remade’ initiative as itlooks to learn more about the consumer behaviours that need to be factoredinto the process as it strives to make a “circular” manufacturingprocess.
“UltraBoost DNA Loop is not just a shoe, it’s a movement,” added Carnes.“And we want our community of creators to help us define a better futurewhere products are ‘Made to be Remade’.”
Adidas calling on Creator Club members to test run its new sustainablerunning shoe – the UltraBoost DNA Loop
1,500 members will be given the shoes for free by Adidas and become partof a “sustainability micro-community” who will co-create with the brand in“a true open source fashion to further shape and fine-tune the experience”.They will have to commit to returning the shoes to be “grinded, shreddedand turned into something new,” explains Adidas.
Each chosen member will take part in the 21-week programme, which willbe driven by the Adidas app, with the communities actions and feedbackhelping to futureproof the next model.
To join the trial, Adidas Creator Club members will be asked to provetheir sustainability credentials by taking part in a quiz. Everyone whocompletes the quiz will be entered into a global raffle and randomlyselected for the experience.
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Their experiences will be the cornerstone of the full commercial releaseof the ‘Made to be Remade’ franchise in 2021.
To launch the new sustainable shoe, Adidas has teamed up with modelKarlie Kloss who stars in the launch film and talks about her commitmentsto social and environmental causes.
Kloss, added: “I’m honoured to help introduce the next iteration of theUltraBoost DNA Loop concept during Creators Club Week. Through this shoe,Adidas is leading an incredibly important conversation around circularityand fabric innovation. We hope this launch inspires creators to join us aswe strive to create a more sustainable future together.”
Adidas pushes forward with ‘Made to be Remade’ concept with newUltraBoost DNA Loop running shoe
The aim of the Adidas ‘Made to be Remade’ project is aimed at tacklingthe problem of plastic waste, using recycled materials and creating ‘closedloop’ or circular manufacturing models, where raw materials can berepurposed again and again. But not just repurposed into a water bottle ora tote, but into high-performance products.
This has created the UltraBoost DNA Loop, a high performance runningshoe made using just one material type and no glue. Each component is madefrom 100 percent reusable TPU – it’s spun to yarn, knitted, moulded andclean-fused to a Boost midsole.
Once the UltraBoost DNA Loop comes to the end of their first life theyare then returned to Adidas, where they are washed, ground to pellets andmelted into material for components for a new pair of shoes, with lesswaste. Each generation is designed to meet the Adidas sports performancestandard, without compromise.
The German brand has previously held two trials. The first in April2019, where 200 creators were involved in testing the Gen 1 UltraBoost DNALoop running shoes, wearing them and then returning them to Adidas to bereborn as well as providing valuable feedback on the design and process.This was followed up with a second trial in November 2019, where the Gen 2UltraBoost DNA Loop running shoes were produced and included recycled TPUfrom the Gen 1 pairs.
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Images: courtesy of Adidas