Recycle, Reuse,Rehype?

Have you ever recycled a pair of shoes on your feet? Or did you throw them in the trash? Most likely you have thrown them out which makes sense since that was the logical choice for a long time. Given that in recent years most corporations are wanting to change the way that consumers view them by creating sustainability initiatives. Now there is a solution that many sneaker companies have thought long and hard about to our excess waste that we create while also marketing to a new segment of the market.

Some might ask why companies are deciding to go with being sustainable and trying to seem as if they want to save the planet. However, I don't think that this is a bad thing but I think we also have to remember that corporations care about their reputation is very important when it comes to being able to retain customers and selling to the exact target audience that you want to be able to attract. Sneaker companies know that people will forever need their products to be able to work out, Play competition sports in along leisure everyday walking. But just because this is a necessity that almost all people need some corporations to see it important for them to try to at least help out with the amount of excess waste that we have on our planet. Decisions like this helps them be in the conversation as a company that is wanting save their planet in some way along with attracting those who are concerned with the conservation of our planet to now being converted loyal customers of the market to sell to. There are some companies that have a focus on solely creating shoes that are made with recycled materials and some that use a certain percentage of materials that are sustainable.

Companies like Adidas have decided to partner with some companies that are ready to have initiatives for saving the planet Adidas partnered with Parley which is a company that collects plastic waste in the ocean and uses it to turn it into some sort of plastic filament. This film is able to then be used to create things like water bottles toothbrushes it's the idea of using waste to create a consumer good. Adidas decides to partner with Parley and creates a line of sneakers that highlighted their ultra boost the crazy boost and a few other models that they have so might be surprised but when this shoe came out there was a great amount of hype that was centered around it because never before have we seen a shoe made out of trash there was also not trash looking in its appearance.

Similar to Adidas Nike has also joined the fight against destroying our planet Nike has launched an initiative called “Move to Zero” this is an initiative that tries to use waste rubber waist and old sneakers old Nikes old textile materials and create new products out of them. This initiative actually has been very impressive and how it has created a lot of hype around it like he came out with a popular pair of shoes called the air hippie which had four different iterations of itself along with a shoe that was considered a great performer in basketball in 2020 and 2021 called the cosmic unity they also took that same idea and took it to Jordan brand and created a pair of Jordan ones with recycled material textile along with recycled material outsole they then took it over to converse which is a company that they also own and created a full recycled material sneaker. Not only has Nike taken the day far but Nike has also changed the boxes that come with the shoes and they decided that now they will be shipping any move to zero sneakers in their own box which then will lower the number of boxes that are used to ship their goods. Nike is hoping to shrink it's carbon footprint along with grow it's pockets with the new generation who cares about conserving the planet.

Then you have companies like Everlane. Allbirds, Nothing New and Cariuma who have decided to make their shoes completely sustainable from textile to outsole and every single one of their shoes their whole entire catalog is sustainable. These company a few years ago would not be receiving much traction compared to the larger corporations out there. But with the rise of more environmentally conscious consumers the demand for more completely sustainable and affordable footwear. I do not think that any of these companies will ever outsell Large corporations of the likes of Adidas or Nike but they now are on peoples radars and I see a brighter future for them.