Adidas and ‘Parley for the Oceans’ finalize New Collaborative Project

The specialty shoe was unveiled at the United Nations headquarters in New York City as a collaborative project between the German sportswear brand and Parley for the Oceans, an organization that undertakes projects to raise awareness and protect the word’s oceans.

This shoe concept is just the beginning as Adidas also acknowledged that this sustainable concept isn’t as sustainable as it could be since the shoe is still made from plastic.

Eric Liedtke, a member of the executive board at Adidas, said: “We are incredibly excited to join Parley for the Oceans as they bring the cause of the oceans to the attention of the United Nations”.

The latest design has not yet been named, but its upper is made completely from ocean waste, or more specifically yarns and filaments from illegal fishing nets.

The gillnets were retrieved over a 110 day period spent tracking a poaching vessel which was finally caught near the coast of Western Africa.

The partnership was announced in April when Adidas also disclosed that it would ditch plastic bag use in all its retail stores.

The company declined to give a name to the prototype shoe, but the product is slated to be released later this year although its design may be slightly altered in the process.

Adidas isn’t the first sneaker company to foray into the world of making shoes out of recycled materials as New Balance created a sneaker in 2011 made from recycled plastic. Once, plastic waste is collected from the ocean. A 2006 UNESCO describe found that every oceanic sq mile is brimming by 46,000 parts of wood particles for most. This ranges from large, visible pieces of plastic like shopping bags and water bottles to microscopic plastic pieces that have broken down in the water. Plastic debris is responsible for deaths over a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year.

There are a few ways that plastic pollution in the oceans can affect wildlife. Plastic doesn’t belong in nature, it doesn’t belong in the belly of a fish, it doesn’t belong out there.

Mr. Gutsch’s statement pinpoints the concern that when the recycled plastic Adidas shoes will be worn out, they could well end up in the oceans again, reiterating the same issue.

Because of ocean currents, these plastic debris often clump together in huge ocean patches, such as the Great Pacific garbage patch in the North Pacific Ocean. Parley for the Oceans is trying to alleviate the problem by collecting the ocean trash and turning it into something useful, the Monitor Daily (MD) reports.