In a round up the footwear brands taking steps in the right direction with their eco-footprint we kick off with Allbirds and Adidas.
The apparel industry loves a good collab and Adidas’s partnership with Allbirds is a ground-breaking for many reasons.
The rival companies have partnered up, sharing proprietary technologies and material innovations to reimagine a lower-emission design process.
From the collaboration comes FUTURECRAFT.FOOTPRINT – a running shoe with a carbon footprint of just 2.94kg CO2e/pair, without compromising performance. It represents a personal best for both brands as the result of a collective ambition to make a performance running shoe with no carbon footprint.
Seeing the possibilities of accelerating a carbon-neutral future for sports and style, the two companies teamed up to forge a unique partnership: opening up their materials, supply chains, and innovations to each other.
With each pair having a carbon footprint of just 2.94kg CO2e and created with 63% less emissions*, FUTURECRAFT.FOOTPRINT showcases a new approach to more sustainable design and an alternative method of manufacturing that drastically reduces carbon impact.
In April activist and artist Jaden Smith and global athletic leader New Balance debuted the latest release of the New Balance Jaden Smith Vision Racer collection that is partially crafted with recycled and surplus materials: The Vision Racer ReWorked.
The Vision Racer ReWorked is consciously crafted with a mix of recycled materials including a midsole that contains a 5% EVA regrind, alleviating a potential waste stream. The material used in the upper and the tongue contains 74% Spinnex fiber (Spinnex includes at least 30% textile waste), 16% polyester and 10% Spandex. New Balance’s Spinnex material incorporates factory waste cut offs into a new usable material.
The Vision Racer ReWorked launch is part of New Balance’s larger sustainability initiatives in which the brand is committed to a healthier planet by reaching several sustainability milestones between now and 2030.
Closer to home Deuce’s newly launched Kind Soles collection is a considered edit of sustainable designs. Thoughtfully designed in New Zealand, the collection consists of three unisex sneakers, each playing a part in protecting the planet.
Two of the sneakers, Jax & Jango, feature a transparent leather-look material called Bio Veg that’s made out of Bio Polyols with elements derived from plants. The main raw material is field corn! We sourced Bio Veg from an Italian supplier named Coronet.
The third style, Gaia, is made with Repreve, a traceable fibre made out of recycled plastic bottles. The lightweight material offsets the use of petroleum in the manufacture, emitting fewer greenhouse gases and conserves water and energy in the process.
These sneakers feature Deuce’s new BLOOM™ footbed, made from algae biomass, a sustainable, plant-based material that helps clean polluted water. Every pair of footbeds returns 18 litres of clean water to the habitat and cleans 11 M3 of air! The Bloom footbed is now featured in all our new season Deuce sneakers, and will be going forward.
Not to be confused with Deuce’s Kind Soles, Kathryn Wilson announced her partnership with New Zealand corporate climate action business, CarbonClick in April with the launch of a new range of eco-friendly KIND sneakers made with low-impact materials such as recycled leather and recycled plastic bottles.
CarbonClick is a New Zealand-founded and run company, offering businesses opportunities to reduce their carbon emissions through offsetting projects to help restore and protect New Zealand forests. Kathryn Wilson and CarbonClick have been working up to this point for the past 12 months by highlighting a customer-driven option through Kathryn’s online store where carbon offsets can be activated by the purchaser.
Through the new KIND partnership with CarbonClick, Kathryn Wilson will be donating $10 from every pair of KIND collection shoes sold towards the Kaikoura project, helping to conserve and re-plant 99 hectares of lush native forest by increasing biodiversity and drawing down carbon.
The brand-new KIND collection has been consciously crafted using lower impact materials, such as Global Recycling Standard certified recycled leather and fly-knit uppers made from recycled plastic bottles.
The development of these three styles has been a two-year project for Kathryn Wilson footwear and is the beginning of the company’s sustainability journey.
