Adidas is Selling Amazing Shoes Made From Ocean Waste

It is a fact that there are millions of floating transportation means, starting from cargo ships, that lose containers into the open sea, to recreational boats from which people throw plastic containers after they have served their purpose. There are tones plastic waste in the middle of Atlantic Ocean and it is impossible to get rid of them. Adidas find a way how to make an advantage of this problem.

The seriousness of this problem brought the scientists to estimate how huge is the problem of Pacific. Results were that by the end of 2020 the amount of plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean would be around whopping 7.25 million tones. It is predict that 79,000 years would be needed in order to remediate the damage.

Last year Adidas has teamed up with Parley for the Oceans — a movement which aim is to eliminate those tones of plastic waste, and together created a new 3D-printed sneaker concept. The design consisted of an upper part made from plastic waste from the ocean and a 3D-printed midsole made of recycled fishing net and polyester. That was an effort for the company to set new industry standards. 

Those shoes were made as a prototype at that time, but from the the mid-November 7,000 pairs of this shoes will be available on the market - in Adidas stores and on the company’s website. Their price is expected to be €200 ($220) per pair.

Although the prototype models were 3D-printed, it is not the case with the process for mass production. The recycled waste is still being turned into usable fabric, but the company does not reveal the exact production technology. There were only mentioned "new technologies" that are used to "up-cycle marine plastic debris." The only available information about the components of the new sneakers is that they are made of 5 percent recycled polyester and 95 percent plastic waste collected from the  ocean around the Maldives.

According to The Verge magazine, the new sneaker are called the UltraBOOST Uncaged Parley, refering to both the design’s environmental backers and the popular UltraBOOST range of light-weight running shoes.

"We will make one million pairs of shoes using Parley Ocean Plastic in 2017 - and our ultimate ambition is to eliminate virgin plastic from our supply chain," the company said, according to The Verge.

Source: The Verge