Adidas closed-loop shoes are ‘made to be remade’
18/04/2019
Athletic footwear typically includes complex material mixes and component gluing, adidas said on introducing the new shoe at an event on April 17. Usually, this results in shoes that “can only be downcycled”.
However, after close to a decade of research and development, carried out in partnership materials, manufacturing and recycling partners across Asia, Europe and North America, adidas said it had found “a way to change the process”.
It said Futurecraft Loop shoes will be “made to be remade” from the outset and that the keys to achieving this will be to use only one type of material and no glue. Each component will be made from reusable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).
“Once the shoes come to the end of their first life,” the company said, “they can be returned to adidas to be washed, ground into pellets and melted into material for components for a new pair of shoes, with zero waste and nothing thrown away.”
It added that “each generation” of shoes made from this material will meet “the adidas sports performance standard, without compromise”.
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