Adidas Turns Ocean Trash into Sneakers
August 04, 2015
Some people think that Adidas makes the coolest shoes on earth. Now they also make the coolest shoes at sea.
The sportswear company recently announced that it will be making shoes and apparel using an unlikely source: ocean trash.
Plastic is cheap, easy and everywhere. It also takes 1,000 years to biodegrade and is pretty terrible for the environment. Much of it ends up in the ocean — polluting the water and killing sea creatures. Each year an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the oceans.
For several years, Adidas has been committed to a variety of sustainability efforts. Last year they launched the Primeknit, a shoe line created with zero waste. This spring it removed all plastic bags from its stores.
For its new eco-friendly shoes, Adidas is partnering with Parley for the Oceans, a non-profit committed to fighting ocean waste. “We are extremely proud that Adidas is joining us in this mission and is putting its creative force behind this partnership to show that it is possible to turn ocean plastic into something cool,” said Cyrill Gutsch, founder of Parley for the Oceans.
Adidas is doing a great job of showing that eco-friendly products can be really cool and fun. That’s what we at Ernest have done with our Ernest Cardboard Chaos video series. We’ve made skateboards, surfboards, snowboards and push bikes with recyclable and biodegradable components.
We also work with customers to remove the waste in their packaging. By removing unnecessary pieces and using biodegradable material, we keep our packaging from eventually turning into ocean waste.
Ernest Packaging’s Brian Porter was briefly featured in the documentary “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, which is about a massive collection of ocean debris that has become an ever-growing island. It’s currently streaming on Netflix if you want to learn more about how plastic waste is damaging our oceanways.
Is your current packaging a bit flat-footed? Contact us today to talk about sustainable, eco-friendly packaging solutions.
Photo via Adidas.com
