Adidas has teamed up with Parley For The Oceans, a multidisciplinary creative environmentalist organization that wants to end pollution on oceans, to create eco-trainers from ocean trash literally. The mission was to create a prototype for a new eco-trainer that has been made almost entirely from recycled garbage, plastic waste and discarded fishnets pulled from the sea. The upper shoe is made entirely of recycled plastics and actual green net fibres, and the base of the trainers is made from sustainable cushioning material.
Fishnets are a significant source of ocean pollution, but at least part of the nets used to create these recycled fibres came from a more interesting source than simple sea trash.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a sea-bound environmental activism organization, which collaborated on the project, retrieved the trash over the course of a 110-day expedition to track an illegal poaching vessel off the coast of West Africa and confiscate roughly 72 kms of illegal gill-nets after tracking illegal poachers wanted by Interpol. The green fishing nets collected during this trip can be seen in the design of the upper shoe.
According to The Huffington Post, Cyril Gutsch, Parley For The Oceans' founder, said that the fishing nets were spanning the bottom of the sea like a wall and killing pretty much every fish passing by. Those fishing nets were confiscated and are coming back to life.
They're extremely proud that Adidas joined them in this mission and that is putting its creative force behind the partnership to show that is possible to turn ocean plastic into something cool.
A spokesman of Adidas also said that this shoe is not for sale and they're unsure whether it would be in near future. This project is not a plan but an action.
This was done for the company to show what they're capable of doing when they all put their heads together.
In the past Adidas has been accused by Greenpeace of environmental pollution, so this project represent one of many steps in the right direction for Adidas. The brand will begin incorporating recycled plastic and fibres into its shoes by early 2016. The biggest aim of this program is not just to recycle plastic into shoes but help avoiding plastic waste in the first place.
