Adidas has launched a sneaker made from virgin plastic that can be ground up and remade again, as part of the company's bid to mitigate the plastic crisis.
The Futurecraft Loop shoe was launched 17 April by Adidas as a first step for the brand to help "get off plastic waste".
The aim was to create a product that could be recycled as part of a closed-loop system.
To do this, Adidas developed a high-performance running shoe made completely from a single material, virgin thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).

This single material is the key to its recyclability ? one of the biggest challenges in recycling sneakers is that they are made of lots of different materials, and difficult to divide up and repurpose.
"That's a problem because you can't recycle 12 to 15 materials in one recycling area," said Adidas executive board member Eric Liedtke at the event. "You'd have to recycle each of them individually in 12 to 15 different ways, and figure out the decomposition to take apart the shoe and figure out how to get those materials onto the recycling area," Liedtke added.
"The solution of the Loop is that it is made of one single material and can be recycled in one dongle process and one stable demonstration ? and can be recycled again and again and again," he continued. "It's a statement for us to show to the world that we can do better."

The Futurecraft Loop sneaker comprises a knitted upper and an Adidas patented Boost foam sole, ...