Fashion for Good turns focus on footwear with Adidas among partners
Fashion for Good in launching a new initiative aimed at "accelerating and validating" the next generation of footwear innovations – backed by partners including Adidas, On Running, PVH Corp, Reformation, Target, Zalando and ZARA owner Inditex.
The initiative will address the key intervention points needed to drive footwear circularity across what it calls four workstreams across the supply chain.
The workstreams are:
- Materials - Scouting and validating sustainable alternatives for footwear materials including TPU, PU, EVA, leather and rubber.
- Design - Defining circular design in the footwear space and collectively driving guidelines to build a circular infrastructure.
- End of Use: Sorting, Disassembly, & Recycling - Developing a comprehensive data set on post-consumer footwear waste flows, including volumes, construction and composition, as well as scouting and validating solutions for repair, end of use, disassembly and recycling of footwear.
- Traceability - Laying the foundation by amalgamating a footwear traceability data protocol to build traceability for evidence to substantiate sustainability claims.
Katrin Ley, Managing Director of Fashion for Good, said: "Fashion for Good and our corporate partners, including Adidas, recognise the urgent need to accelerate innovation in footwear sustainability.
"Over the past seven years, we have consistently broken norms across various segments and are now leveraging our expertise to radically reimagine footwear. By doubling down on our efforts, we aim to drive circularity and validate sustainable solutions in a segment ripe for disruption."
Sigrid Buehrle, SVP Product Operations at Adidas, added: "Adidas has been a partner of Fashion for Good for over six years now. Through this partnership, we have collaborated on a number of different sustainable innovation initiatives that are benefitting the fashion industry.
"Now we want to build on this know-how and expand our focus into the footwear space. Currently, there is a limited portfolio of low impact materials which also meet the necessary performance requirements that are also scalable. We hope this initiative will help overcome some of these hurdles."
Fashion for Good is on the lookout for breakthrough sustainable solutions in the footwear sector that maintain performance and durability, and is now calling on anyone who has "relevant technology", whether it’s a university, established company or innovator, to apply to join the new initiative by 20 September 2024.
