Sports, sex, and fashion shaped modern footwear design. Today, sustainability isn't exactly the main selling point for a product like sneakers. But how did we get to this point, where every American buys an average of over five pairs of tennis shoes a year?
A recent article in National Geographic suggests it dates back to the late 1800s, when factories closed down for repairs in the summer, creating the first “vacations,” a new kind of time off that had workers swapping boots for light shoes that were better for the beach. Around the same time, sports and leisure culture was developing. Croquet players in England wanted sticky soles and Lawn Tennis players needed shoes that wouldn’t slip on the grass. The first solution was vulcanized rubber, which had been invented in 1839, and also happened to work great for making tires.
While the original vulcanized rubber isn’t the same as today’s plastic, “natural” rubber products were replaced by synthetic rubbers by 1950, and today about 70 percent of all rubber used in manufacturing is synthetic, according to the American Chemical Society.
Glance down quickly at your shoes, I’ll wait. Are they, like most, made either from plastic or something “plastic-like”? The squishy soles, pointy heels, knit polyester uppers and brittle eyelet holes, and because they are stitched, glued, and molded together, make them almost impossible to recycle.
But there may be a revolution on the horizon. What if there was a sneaker made from a material that could be broken down, recycled, and made into new sneakers or other materials? Adidas is touting just that with a new line, the Adidas Futurecraft Loop, a performance sneaker that is “made to be remade.” In 2019, Adidas has announced plans to make 11 million shoes out of ocean plastic. The Futurecraft Loop is a next step toward a future where shoes are not thrown away when users are finished with them, but instead fed back into the creation of a new product. Futurecraft Loop is expected to be available in 2021.
According to their corporate website, Adidas' goal is to replace all virgin polyester with recycled polyester by 2024. Currently, more than 40 percent of Adidas' apparel uses recycled polyester. In fact, you may have seen some of the company’s recycled sportswear without even knowing what it was. Clothing made with ocean plastic has been used in college football, baseball, the NHL, the Australian Open, and more.
How about you? Have you had the recycled materials versus recyclable conversation with your suppliers? It’s like taking the next step in conversations about sustainability with your partners. It’s worth it to talk about the entire product cycle of promotional products you’re sourcing. Re-used and then re-used again, you might just be surprised how interested your clients are in helping conserve our resources, too.
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. You can find him volunteering as a Guardian ad Litem, traveling the world with his lovely wife, or enjoying a cigar at his favorite local cigar shop. Connect with Jeff on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram, or reach out to him at jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.