The beloved shoe we have all come to know in love has place sustainability as it's number one priority. I remember watching those youtube videos of the lads from Manchester tap their feet to some cool music. On those feet were the coolest and popular shoe. Their brute, carnality, and bold devil-may-care personality was the true spirit of rock and roll. The shoe was always very popular. That shoe was adidas.
Not only were the shoes cool and comfortable, but they were sustainably friendly. On their site, they are promoting more environmentally friendly clothes, and here is how they are doing it; innovation! With innovation, they are re thinking and repurposing plastics. They are doing this by recycling polyester in clothes.
One way to live a more sustainable life is by recycling polyester, and anyone could do this easily. Just by going to the thrift shop and finding new clothes, you are living a more sustainable life. By the year of 2024, Adidas plans to recycle all polyester. "No more virgin polyester", they say. Adidas says that polyester is the most used material in their products. That is because polyester dries quickly and is super lightweight for sports performance. Adidas says that they will have all clothing and shoes made from recycled polyester. They will not get rid of the style and will still keep that devil-may-care look we all know and love. Like how bold the band, Oasis, was, who wore them all the time, so is Adidas for adapting to a more sustainable approach.
Adidas is also working on a shoe that will never be thrown away. It's not very stylish though, but it's good for the environment. This shoe is the shoe of the future. They call it Futurecraft Loop. Recycle TPU is formed on the eyelids and tongue of the shoe. Upper and bottom unit are fused together. Adidas is trying to stay away from glue. Recyclable TPU is knitted into the shoe design and molded into the boost sole. This is formed into the outsole. TPU is a thermoplastic polyurethane.
Not only this product would be good for the environment, but it also helps multiply the lives of their materials. This goes through a four-stage process; clean, grind, melt and form. So, why is this such an issue? 8.3 billion tonnes of plastics has been produced since 1950's. 50% of those plastics were from about the last decade. Most plastics are not recyclable.
Adidas is also working with Parley Ocean Plastic, which takes Marine plastic waste and makes material out of it. This is used for Adidas' Parley clothes, which is a new clothing that will be environmentally friendly. Plastic trash is collected from shorelines. From there, the plastic is sent to supply chain partners. Then this plastic is shredded and formed into polyester yarn.
I think this is great that such a big company is thinking about sustainability. However, I do think they need to work on their design. People love shoes. Just the other day I was in class, and one person said they had 86 pairs of shoes. Another girl said she had 36 pairs of shoes. If they are going to be making a more sustainable shoes, they need to make them look good and have a variety of different styles. I don't know anybody who wants to rock out a pair of boost soles. That's not to mention what the price of them will be? That's not very stylish, man.
However, if we do not do something about this, by 2050, our future marine life would be endangered. This would hurt the fishing industry. All of us know farm raised food doesn't taste as good as fresh caught. If we do not do something, not only would we be polluting our earth, but we would be endangering our food supply and our food. Aren't water wars in third world countries bad enough?
'easier said than done.....
Work Cited:
"Adidas Online Shop." Adidas US, https://www.adidas.com/us/sustainability.
Kayla.mcphail. "4 Companies That Define Sustainable Practices." The University of Scranton Online, 1 Aug. 2019, https://elearning.scranton.edu/resource/business-leadership/4-companies-that-define-sustainable-practices.
