Does the fashion industry have a larger role to play in finding uses for recycled plastic?
Over the last year or so, we’ve really seen the fashion industry embrace recycling as part of their culture. We interviewed Nudie Jeans, What Daisy Did, Elephant Branded and we also featured the likes of Teeki Yoga Pants and Ellie Ellie.
Of course, fashion is all around us, in the clothes and accessories we wear, the people we idolize and the words we read. It’s important that massively influential celebrities and businesses welcome recycling into ‘what’s cool’. We’ve seen Will.I.Am team up with Coca-Cola to encourage ‘big industry’ to embrace recycled materials through their venture EKOCYCLE.
When we saw Adidas working with London designer Alexander Taylor to create a recycled plastic trainer, we were thrilled. Even better, it’s made from recycled ocean plastic.
Introducing the Adidas X Parley.
The trainers are very innovative, replacing their original yarn with one made from waste ocean plastic and fishing nets. Designer Alexander Taylor claims that the trick to designing the shoes was to work with ‘green’ chemists who could utilize the properties of alternatives materials to achieve the desired effect.
Currently the recycled plastic trainers are a concept, with the idea to use a set of new materials meaning that the shoes must be rigorously tested before they can be mass produced for a consumer audience. Adidas revealed the designs during a talk titled “Oceans. Climate. Life”, hosted at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Sustainable future
The netting that was recycled for the upper part of these trainers was collected by Sea Shepherd, a partner of Parley for the Oceans. They retrieved the material whilst on a 110 day expedition tracking an illegal poaching vessel.
Adidas executive board member Eric Liedtke said “Adidas has long been a leader in sustainability, but this partnership allows us to tap into new areas and create innovative materials and products for our athletes”.
Adidas is also trying to remove all plastic bags from their stores.
Great work Adidas!
