The adidas Group announced yesterday that they’re partnering with Parley for the Oceans, in order to create the first sneakers made by plastic that has been dumped into the sea.
These sneakers will be available in a very limited edition of 50 units, and they won’t be available for purchase by the general public. Instead, those interested in getting them will have to participate in an online contest where the participants will demonstrate their compromise to avoid the use of disposable plastic products, in order to avoid the constant contamination of our seas.
“So much work has happened behind the scenes since we launched our partnership with adidas. We are creating new standards, new materials and technologies that are so different to those the sporting goods industry is used to”
— Cyrill Gutsch
These sneakers have been made with plastic collected from the Maldives, and also deep sea fishing nets collected by Sea Shepherd.
According to Cyrill Gutsch (Director of Parley for the Oceans) in an official press release, creating sneakers made of these materials is not an easy job: “It is an ongoing challenge, but we achieved the first step. Now we can replace new plastic with recycled marine plastic debris: Parley Ocean Plastic®. We can create footwear and apparel products with it and we are ready to scale it up”.
The first prototype made with a 3D printer was revealed in 2015.
adidas is plannning continue to make research in order create new standarts to take advantage of other materials that are contaminating our enviroment.
Even though these first sneakers won’t be available for sale, adidas has already announced that they’re already working with Parley to launch their very first commercial sneakers during the second half of 2016.
