Adidas targets sustainability by going plant-based.
The athletic goods company, announced on Monday, January 11, 2020, that their research and development department is developing a new kind of material, a leather plant-based leather alternative.
Adidas Shoe
The company will make this plant-based leather alternative from mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus. If they managed to make it available for mass production, Adidas aims to use it as their primary material in making shoes!
If the tests bear great results, they will slowly integrate shoes made from mycelium leathers in its lineup in the nearest possible future.
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Eco-Friendly Adidas
The new plant-based leather is a part of the company's goal to be one of the first major companies to go full-on sustainable.
Last year, it began offering a 'vegan' alternative version for one of their most popular shoe model, the Stan Smith.
Adidas has also committed to banning fur products from their goods.
The leather made out of mycelium is just one of the many eco-friendly alternatives that Adidas will be offering to reach the company's goal to end plastic waste.
Insiders revealed that in 2020 alone, it produced 15 million pairs of shoes made from recycled plastic wastes and set out to produce 17 million more pairs for the following year.
Adidas collected the plastics used in their shoes from highly polluted beaches and coastal areas.
Since 2017, it has been adding sneakers made from recycled plastic to its lineup. This was when they announced the "Parley" versions of their famous Ultraboost line of running shoes. The shoes had threads made from ocean plastic wastes that the company incorporated in the laces, webbings, linings, and liner covers.
Aside from the plant leather, the ocean plastic shoes, Adidas also started developing new recycled cotton materials like how they used recycled polyester in their lineups.
Approximately more than 60% of their products will contain the material this year.
Big Companies Are Going Sustainable
It's not just Adidas that has gone into committing to integrating sustainability in their production because sustainability has been a rising trend in the fashion, sports, and many other production industries.
Companies opt to go and choose the more eco-friendly alternatives because aside from the end goal of saving the planet, many consumers are now considering the environmental impact of the products they are buying.
Eco-friendly is no longer just an alternative option chosen by a select few who care for the environment. It is becoming a market that consists of people sharing the same target.
Because of the seriousness of the climate crisis issues, it is beneficial to pursue the development of environmental alternatives because such decisions can significantly help combat or mitigate critical ecological problems.
It's incredible how many companies were deemed to be one of the primary reasons why massive amounts of excess waste development are now creating their own methods to ensure that the damages they have made will be mitigated if not totally restored.
A concerned market composed of environmentally aware consumers and providers might just be an effective, ecologically redemptive solution in the modern-day.
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