homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Adidas unveils new sneakers made from recycled ocean trash

Adidas new shoes are trash – literally. The German company has announced the creation of a new type of shoes made from recycled garbage pulled out of the ocean; the sustainable prototype has the upper part made entirely of yarns and filaments reclaimed from illegal deep-sea gillnets and other ocean waste, while the bottom part is […]

Mihai Andrei
July 6, 2015 @ 4:15 am

share Share

Adidas new shoes are trash – literally. The German company has announced the creation of a new type of shoes made from recycled garbage pulled out of the ocean; the sustainable prototype has the upper part made entirely of yarns and filaments reclaimed from illegal deep-sea gillnets and other ocean waste, while the bottom part is made from sustainable cushioning material.

Image via Adidas.

The prototype design was unveiled at United Nations Headquarters on 1 July 2015 and it marks the beginning of the partnership between Adidas and Parley for the Oceans, an organization which develops projects to promote the sustainability of the oceans and eliminate pollution.

“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,” Parley founder Cyrill Gutsch said.

Adidas was also thrilled by this new direction that they’ve taken.

“The concept shoe illustrates the direction adidas and Parley for the Oceans are taking, ahead of consumer-ready ocean plastic products being revealed later this year.”

But gathering the material and developing the product was not easy. he Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which collaborated on the project actually retrieved the trash over a 110 day expedition to track an illegal poaching vessel off the coast of West Africa. The green fishing nets collected during that voyage can be seen in the design of the upper shoe.

For now, the shoe is only a prototype, and it’s not for sale; it’s unclear whether or not it will be in the near future. However, Adidas did announce that they will incorporate recycled plastic into its shoes by early next year. So you will be able to wear recycled plastic on your feet… it’s just likely not ocean plastic.

share Share

A Software Engineer Created a PDF Bigger Than the Universe and Yes It's Real

Forget country-sized PDFs — someone just made one bigger than the universe.

The World's Tiniest Pacemaker is Smaller Than a Grain of Rice. It's Injected with a Syringe and Works using Light

This new pacemaker is so small doctors could inject it directly into your heart.

Scientists Just Made Cement 17x Tougher — By Looking at Seashells

Cement is a carbon monster — but scientists are taking a cue from seashells to make it tougher, safer, and greener.

Three Secret Russian Satellites Moved Strangely in Orbit and Then Dropped an Unidentified Object

We may be witnessing a glimpse into space warfare.

Researchers Say They’ve Solved One of the Most Annoying Flaws in AI Art

A new method that could finally fix the bizarre distortions in AI-generated images when they're anything but square.

The small town in Germany where both the car and the bicycle were invented

In the quiet German town of Mannheim, two radical inventions—the bicycle and the automobile—took their first wobbly rides and forever changed how the world moves.

Scientists Created a Chymeric Mouse Using Billion-Year-Old Genes That Predate Animals

A mouse was born using prehistoric genes and the results could transform regenerative medicine.

Americans Will Spend 6.5 Billion Hours on Filing Taxes This Year and It’s Costing Them Big

The hidden cost of filing taxes is worse than you think.

Underwater Tool Use: These Rainbow-Colored Fish Smash Shells With Rocks

Wrasse fish crack open shells with rocks in behavior once thought exclusive to mammals and birds.

This strange rock on Mars is forcing us to rethink the Red Planet’s history

A strange rock covered in tiny spheres may hold secrets to Mars’ watery — or fiery — past.