Sustainability is becoming more important every day in the fashion world as well as in the world of sneakers, dear community. Big brands like adidas are trying to work on a rethink in their own ranks and production and they envision a long-term future without plastic waste.
Plastic is one of the biggest culprits for the environment. That's why there are more and more bans on plastic in our everyday lives, like plastic straws, or having to pay for a plastic bag at the supermarket. But plastic is also found in clothes, cosmetics and shoes. So how exactly do the big brands go about polluting the environment less?
adidas wants to reduce its plastic waste
adidas knows that they are involved in polluting our planet and this is of course a first step. They acknowledge their mistakes and want to solve them with innovations. With innovative technologies that adidas has already developed, they want to reduce their ecological footprint.
There are three points that have helped the sports brand from Herzogenaurach to understand the problem of plastic waste.
- Every day, plastic is dumped into the sea by an average of 1440 barge trucks.
- For every person on earth, there is one tonne of plastic in the ocean.
- If we continue like this, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the water than fish swimming there.
adidas also has a series on their YouTube page about their process to eliminate plastic waste once and for all. Feel free to check out the first episode below.
Stories of Change
During this process, adidas devised a strategy with three methods, recycling being the first. By using recycled materials, they already use less plastic.
The recycling method is then about reusing used plastic. After all, it is already on the earth, so it could also be given a useful function!
The last method is then the restorative approach. This involves the use of natural materials and natural processes in production.
The Three Stripes brand also gives us tips on how we can all reduce our ecological footprint. As a global brand, they can obviously make a big difference, but if we don't all start doing something, even adidas' plan has little power.
With a few small changes in everyday life, you can already take the first important steps, dear community:
- Drive economically or don't drive at all if you don't have to. By driving a car, you spread a lot of carbon dioxide that pollutes the air.
- Consume sensibly. Meat is also a big culprit. Try to buy as much locally produced food as possible and look for seasonal items.
- Switch off your electronics more often. Is your light still on even though it's bright outside or is the coffee machine still on even if you don't want to drink any more? Turn off appliances and power sources when you are not using them to reduce your electricity consumption.
- Are you already using renewable energy? Using sustainable energy reduces your consumption and also your environmental impact. Feel free to find out what comes into question for you.
- Use less water! Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and don't let the water run constantly when showering.
adidas x Parley for the oceans
Parley for the Oceans is an environmental organisation that works to protect the oceans. They work on big projects to achieve their goal and also offer events and talks to explain more about ocean pollution and how we can best do something about it.
Would you like to learn more about this organisation?
The collaboration between adidas and Parley started back in 2015 and the first concept looked like this: The upper of this performance concept shoe was made from special yarn. This yarn was made from recycled marine plastic and illegal deep-sea fishing nets floating around in the oceans.
It didn't stop at a concept shoe, of course. adidas and Parley collaborated further to create an adidas x Parley UltraBoost with an upper made from plastic bottles. By shredding the plastic, it is possible to make a polyester yarn from it. This yarn is now used in all products jointly released by adidas and Parley.
Here you can get an impression of the production process of this sustainable material.
With the help of the existence of this recycled polyester, adidas aims to make slightly less than half of its products from virgin polyester. Their goal is also to use only recycled polyester by 2024.
adidas x Parley Primeblue
adidas has also designed 'Primeblue' with the Parley Ocean Plastic. This is a high performance material that can be used well in the sports industry.
"Plastic is a design flaw. It is a material that should never exist on this planet."
Cyrill Gutsch, Parley for the Oceans
adidas and Parley have collaborated a lot over the last six years, not only in footwear but also in apparel and accessories. Would you like to contribute to adidas' goal of reducing plastic waste? Then take a look at the adidas x Parley collection via the button below.
More sustainability? In our sneaker news you will find the category Sustainability and many articles on the topic. Among them are the campaigns and steps of the big brands, but also smaller environmentally friendly brands with important values and various sustainable collections.