Adiddas to mass produce shoes from plastic waste found in Maldives

Adidas announced plans to mass produce the shoes made from recycled plastic found in the Maldives.

Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans, a nonprofit that fights ocean plastic waste, to develop the shoe. Part of the upper is made from plastic bottles, bags, and other plastic that commonly ends up in the water. Because plastic degrades quickly in the ocean—turning into tiny particles that are hard to collect—most of the plastic was gathered on beaches.

Over five million plastic bottles had been collected from Maldivian beaches, and shipped to Adidas as Parley Ocean Plastic.

Adidas confirmed Friday that by the end of 2017, it would produce — and expects to sell — 1 million pairs of shoes from an acclaimed sneaker franchise using recycled ocean plastic.

Eric Liedtke, an Adidas group executive board member for global brands, was quoted on Footwear News as having said the shoe is coming at the right time, with current and future generations of sneaker consumers becoming more interested in backing causes to make the world a better place to live.

“The millennials and the centennials, they want to be purpose-driven, they want to help be a solution, but they don’t know how — and there’s too many companies out there that are just marketing that,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do is allow them to opt in to solve big issues.”