Projects on Recycled Apparel
Recycled Shoes is a quite relative topic in the shoe industry and many companies are already trying to create the highest percentage of recycled material within a shoe. Companies such as Nike, one of the leaders in the shoe industry, is currently working on moving to "zero carbon" and "zero waste". By using 50% recycled materials. These materials include 50 percent recycled leather fibers, reused nike air midsoles, recycled polyester, sustainable cotton grown without fossil fuels or pesticides, and recycled nylon yarn. Nike's mission in not only spans to shoes but also clothing. They have implemented the use of recycled polyester which is made from billions of plastic bottles and lowers carbon emissions by up to 30 percent.
Another leader in the shoe industry known as Adidas have partnered with Parley for the Oceans. The materials of the shoes come from upcycled plastic waste from the shores of remote islands, beaches, and coastal communities which prevents pollution in the ocean. Just like Nike, no virgin polyester is used in the creation of these shoes and instead yarn spun from the plastic ocean waste is used. While Adidas is mainly focusing on recycling ocean pollutants, Nike is working on the pollutants that are prevalent in our landfills such as plastic waterbottles. Both of these projects are aimed to create a more sustainable world and decrease our individual carbon footprint.
| Material Name | Company which uses it | How it helps | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yarn | Nike | Prevents billion plastic bottles from reaching landfills | Sustainable cotton | Nike | Through the Better Cotton Initiative, organic cotton is grown without fossil fuel procured pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. |
| Yarn | Adidas | Diverts ocean pollutants from harming marine life and fights the plastic waterbottle epidemic | |||
| gillnet | Adidas | Decreases the killing of wildlife by decreasing the amount of fishnets and gillnets left in the ocean. | |||
| Source: https://www.adidas.com/us/sustainability | Source: https://www.nike.com/sustainability/materials | ||||
Here is a list of some materials which were used to create the shoe shown in the figure.
- Plastic Water Bottles
- Fully Organic Cotton
- Recycled Leather
- Carpet
- Used Fishnets
- Source: https://www.nike.com/sustainability/materials