Eight companies and designers making trainers as sustainable as possible
Footwear brands are competing to produce ever more sustainable sneakers. Here are eight brands leading the pack with trainers made from algae and pineapple husks to bioplastics and recycled waste.
Big brands including Adidas and Reebok, as well as startups such as Native Shoes and Ecoalf, are trying to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of their manufacturing methods and explore concepts such as closed-loop design, whereby materials can be endlessly recycled.
When Everlane launched its own zero-carbon sneakers earlier this year, it claimed that trainers are a "disaster for the planet".
"Of everything we wear, sneakers have one of the heaviest footprints," it said. "They require a ton of energy to produce, are made largely from virgin plastic, and never break down." According to a study conducted by MIT, a typical pair of running shoes generates approximately 13.6 kilograms of CO2 emissions.
This figure may be even more for a shoe containing leather, considering the added environmental impact of raising and slaughtering cattle to make the material.
More and more brands however are experimenting with using eco-friendly materials and production processes that won't leave such an impact.
Here are eight companies and designers trying to reduce the impact of their sneakers:
Plant Shoe by Native Shoes
Canadian footwear brand Native Shoes released a unisex trainer made from 100 per cent plant-based materials including eucalyptus, pineapple husk, org...
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