Bettering the World, One Sneaker at a Time

Founded in 2004, French brand Veja has used organic cotton and wild Amazonian rubber from the get-go, as well as vegetable-tanned leather and recycled plastic bottles in more recent years. San Francisco–based Allbirds kicked off their contribution with a single machine-washable silhouette crafted from castor bean oil – instead of petroleum-based foam – and superfine merino wool before offering up designs utilising the likes of eucalyptus trees and sugar cane–derived foam. And those are far from the only examples.

The heavy-hitters have naturally followed suit.

Parley for the Oceans and adidas have been dropping sustainably-made kicks since partnering up in 2015, bringing Parley’s signature ‘Ocean Plastic’ – which comes from reclaimed and recycled marine plastic waste and illegal deep-sea gillnets – to fan-favourites like the UltraBOOST. More recently, the Three Stripes also unveiled the FUTURECRAFT.LOOP, a 100 per cent recyclable performance running shoe that is ‘made to be remade’ by enabling a closed loop manufacturing model that allows for raw materials to be repurposed and reused over and over again. Not only is every single component made from 100 per cent reusable TPU, but it’s spun to yarn, knitted, moulded, and clean-fused to a BOOST midsole by way of adi’s SPEEDFACTORY tech. Then, once the kicks reach the end of their initial lifespan, they can be cleaned, ground up, and melted down to create components for more kicks.

Reebok, on the other hand, have gone in a completely different direction with their Cotton + Corn initiative, pairing 100 per cent cotton uppers with soles made from a corn-based rubber substitute. The result is the only shoe on the market that is made of 75 per cent USDA-certified bio-based content. It represents the first step towards the brand’s ultimate goal of creating a shoe that you can responsibly bury in your backyard.

Don’t forget about Nike either. 2018 saw the Swoosh unveil Flyleather, using at least 50 per cent recycled natural leather fibre to create a material that looks and feels like premium leather. The material was the hallmark of this year’s Earth Day collaboration with Steven Harrington as he put special spins on classics like the Air Force 1, Blazer, and Cortez. This season also featured Air Max 95s and Blazers that featured plant-based dyes, while the VaporMax 2 rocked excess Flyknit that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.

Now one of the most iconic sneakers of all time is getting in on the action: the Chuck Taylor All Star.