Adidas sets sights on CO2 reduction as ‘moonshot’ becomes reality
15/12/2021
Adidas has announced the commercial launch of Futurecraft.Footprint, its joint project with Allbirds that has produced a shoe with the lowest carbon footprint, at 2.94kg CO2e per pair.
The companies say the collaboration shows how quickly progress can be made by sharing innovations and collaborating with competitors.Teams across product design, material innovation, sustainability, and supply chain studied every component and all aspects of the process, reimagining materials, manufacturing techniques and packaging to reach the lowest possible footprint.
A core part of this was considering pattern efficiency when creating the rolls of material that the individual pieces of the shoe are cut from and fitting pieces to minimise wastage.
Brian Grevy, a board member at adidas, said: “Our ambition is to take Futurecraft.Footprint from moonshot concept to something that sparks systemic change. We wanted to demonstrate how collaboration and an open-source mindset can create a halo effect across the industry and help make progress towards net zero.
“Adidas has a heritage of working closely with partners to scale new innovations. We see the possibilities of collaboration and are able to bring expertise in manufacturing, for example – in 2015 we collaborated with Parley to produce a single concept shoe made using recycled ocean plastic, and by the end of 2020, 30 million pairs of these shoes had been made.
“Now, our sights are set on a 15% average CO2e footprint reduction on every product by 2025, and Futurecraft.Footprint is a major step forward for this ambition and our journey to create low carbon footwear at scale.”
Tim Brown, co-founder & co-CEO at Allbirds, said: We are on our own journey to cut our per-product carbon emissions by 95% by 2030, and the unrelenting focus both teams brought to Futurecraft.Footprint is exactly what we'll need to achieve this ambitious goal. But far beyond its impact for either of our brands, our hope is that this product can inspire others in the industry to rethink the way things have 'always' been done, and that specific learning from our development process can unlock carbon savings for their teams, as well."
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