Adidas And Parley For The Oceans Create Shoes Made From Recycled Ocean Plastic And Will Host Giveaway Of 50 Pairs
For decades, pollutants have ravaged our oceans, affecting its fragile environment and the animals living in it. Some of the most dangerous pollutants include radioactive waste and oil, especially during accidental oil spills from tankers or leaks from oil rigs. Still, they are a far cry from the most common pollutant now plaguing our oceans: plastic or to be more specific, microplastics.
To understand the scope of the threat microplastics have on oceans’ ecosystem, they are one of the biggest threats to the fish population because fish prefer to eat them over natural food. As a matter of fact, about one quarter of all fish in the ocean now contain plastics, according to the United Nations. With these frightening facts, it can be hypothesized that a quarter of all fish consumed by people possibly contains plastic too. Let’s not forget this is just fish and there are other animals, not just living in the oceans but on land and air, that are affected by plastics that may consume them as well.
Many in the green community are trying to find ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle the millions of tons of plastics that are polluting our oceans. In India, a company replaced plastic cutlery with those made by millet which in turn makes them edible too. When it comes to reusing plastics, they are now being incorporated into concrete to help reinforce it.
As shown from the video above, Adidas and Parley have found a way to turn ocean plastics into technical yarn. According to Ecouterre, the new shoes, called the “Adidas X Parley running shoes,” has uppers made of plastics that consist of roughly 16.5 post-consumer plastic bottles along with about 13 grams of gill-net plastic. Apparently, the plastic used to make the uppers is derived from illegal deep-sea fishing nets and other man-made debris collected right off the coast of the Maldives, a tropical nation in the Indian Ocean known for its beaches that glow at night.
Eric Liedtke, the Adidas Group executive board member responsible for global brands, showed his excitement for the new shoes. He recently released a statement in which he claims they are already “iconic.”
“This Adidas x Parley running shoe is already iconic. It’s a shoe for game-changers. We can’t wait to hear the stories of those who stand up, suggest creative solutions, take action and want to join us on our journey to clean up the oceans.”
Cyrill Gutsch, the founder of Parley for the Oceans, also provided a statement on behalf of his company in which he details their end of the partnership. Gutsch also sees the recycled ocean plastics being used for other sportswear besides shoes.
“So much work has happened behind the scenes since we launched our partnership with Adidas. We are creating new standards, new materials and technologies that are so different to those the sporting goods industry is used to. It is an ongoing challenge, but we achieved the first step.
“Now we can replace new plastic with recycled marine plastic debris: Parley Ocean Plastic. We can create footwear and apparel products with it and we are ready to scale it up.”
[Image via Adidas and Parley Promotions for Adidas X Parley Running Shoes]
