Adidas turning threat into thread through Parley for the Oceans partnership

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“Virtually every piece of plastic that’s ever been created still exists in some shape or form, and a vast percentage of this ends up in our oceans,” says Mike Jaeggle, Marketing Director, adidas SA. “Through Parley for the Oceans, adidas globally has been turning threat into thread by re-using marine plastic debris to form a signature element of its iconic performance-led running shoes and to create one million pairs of shoes made from intercepted marine plastic, in 2017. Parley Ocean Plastic is also being used for other adidas sporting products, including swimming gear, soccer jerseys, and outdoor items.”

This is not the company’s only global-scale environmental initiative. Funded by the European Union, adidas is spearheading a three-year research project, called Sport Infinity, to develop a material for performance sporting apparel that can be recycled many times over in a process that eschews chemical additives and create near-zero waste.

And, the adidas Futurecraft Biofabric prototype shoe features an upper made from 100% Biosteel fiber, a nature-based and completely biodegradable high-performance fiber. Biosteel fiber moves adidas’ journey of sustainable innovation from its starting point of virgin plastics to recycled plastics, to its partnership with Parley for the Oceans, to this totally new frontier of investing in solutions that leverage science and nature as an integral part of innovation.

adidas’ results in the area of sustainability receive continuous external recognition. In 2016, for the 17th consecutive time, the company was selected to join the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), the world’s first global sustainability index, which tracks the performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. The company has also publically agreed to measure its climate footprint and reduce emissions where ever possible – steps that will be measurable and impactful over the longer-term.