A new trend: how sneakers are made from sustainable materials

The production of athletic shoes used to be incredibly harmful to the environment. This is due to the fact that sneakers and sneakers are no longer just everyday shoes, and many celebrities went out in them on red carpets. But few of us have thought about the fact that about a billion pairs of athletic shoes are sold every year. Behind each pair is the manufacturing, packaging and delivery to stores. All of this consumes a lot of natural resources, but after wearing them, we give nothing back to the environment in return and only harm it more.

The trend towards conscious consumption and recycling has become popular with well-known sports brands such as Nike and adidas, which has influenced the choice of footwear materials for emerging brands. Here’s a look at what eco-friendly manufacturing techniques sports brands have started using.

Recycled waste

There are times when materials such as used cotton are shredded and turned into a new material for sneakers. European manufacturers collect plastic floating on the surface of bodies of water and then dye the material with eco-friendly dyes and handcraft it in a family-run workshop in Portugal. The sole is made from rubber waste that must have gone to landfill. A small part of this material is made from new rubber to make the sole stronger and more durable.

Manufacturers are increasingly trying to create sneakers that set the bar for sustainability and have a positive impact on the planet. And they’ve succeeded: Effekt Footwear’s Alchemy-X sneaker model has become incredibly popular in the brand’s home country of Vienna, and the manufacturing technology has been used by other local startups. The name for the model was not chosen by chance. One of the creators of the brand, Benjamin Smits, said: “Just as medieval alchemists tried to turn base metals into gold, so we, as alchemists of the XXI century, turn garbage into clothes. Textile waste for future shoes is collected in Portugal before being sent to landfill.

Sneakers made of grape cake

The hard residue of the wine industry can become an alternative to natural leather. For this purpose, grape cake is mixed with vegetable oils and a water-based polyurethane dispersion. It sounds unecological, but this dispersion is much less toxic than the classic petrochemical solvent, which is most often used in shoe production. The resulting biomaterial is then applied to organic cotton. Although the addition of polyurethane improves the physical properties of the final product and today technology does not allow to do without it, it prevents complete decomposition of the material. Therefore, grape leather is used to make things with a long service life, such as sneakers. This technology was invented by the brand Pangaia.

They do not differ from genuine leather models neither visually nor in quality. However, the wide sole made of recycled rubber makes them slightly heavier.

Carpets and fishing nets are in the making

It takes about 12-14 plastic bottles to produce the fabric for one pair of shoes. Flyleather material looks, smells and feels like genuine leather. It is created by weaving recycled leather fibers with synthetic fibers. The process of creating this leather harnesses the energy of water and reduces the negative impact on the planet. Nylon is created from various recycled materials such as carpets and unwanted fishing nets. The resulting virgin material is cleaned, sorted and crumbled into crumbs before undergoing a chemical or mechanical recycling process. It is then used to produce sports shoes.This is the technology used by Nike. The company is an expert brand in green manufacturing and conscious recycling.

Shoes made from a single polymer

A couple years ago, a new cost-effective technology emerged that has changed the way shoes are manufactured. The entire sneaker is made from a single polymer – thermoplastic polyurethane. It can be turned into materials of different textures: a foamy mass for the sole, a rubber-like layer for the tread, fiber to create yarn for the upper and laces. To recycle these sneakers, the pair will not need to be separated into components, but can be melted down as a whole. Adidas is using this technology to create the Futurecraft model of running shoes. Moreover, Kanye West, who has been cooperating with the brand for a long time, offered his own option for creating an eco-friendly pair of sneakers – shoes made of algae. It is them that will be turned into a foamy polymer at the production facility, and then create sneakers. The material will turn out to be biodegradable, and its production will affect the carbon balance in the direction of reducing emissions: when growing algae will absorb CO2.

Sneakers made from mushrooms and plants

There are industries that create completely biodegradable sneakers. They are made from plants. Pineapple peelings, corn and eucalyptus are involved. The creators say that when a pair is completely worn out, they can be buried in the ground and become fertilizer. Canadian brand Native Shoes has become known for this innovative manufacturing technique.

Israeli designer Shahar Livn once came up with an alternative to natural and artificial leather in sneakers.

For his brand DeZeen, he started producing materials based on mushrooms and yeast, and then even made sneakers from meat industry waste.

For the fabric upper, he uses dog hair discarded during grooming or obtained during shearing. The designer sews the upper using bamboo threads.