These Adidas Sneakers Are Made From Ocean Plastic
It’s almost impossible to comprehend the amount of human-dispensed plastic that finds its way into the world’s oceans. In 2010, researchers found 2.3 billion pieces of plastic refuse made their way from the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers to coastal waters—all in a matter of days, and all of it degrading so slowly that it poses a tremendous threat to the health of marine life.
Adidas isn’t claiming they can solve the problem, but they are doing what they can. The company is set to release a new sneaker dubbed the UltraBOOST Uncaged Parley that’s made almost entirely from discarded plastic bottles.
The shoe is named after Adidas’s partnership with Parley Ocean Plastic, a plastics recycling initiative that collects ocean waste to be repurposed for apparel. Parley acquired the ocean plastic from the Maldives: Each pair uses the equivalent of 11 plastic bottles.
The initial wave of shoes will be limited to 7000 pairs and are set to retail for $220. Adidas has pledged to make one million pairs in 2017, harvesting 11 million plastic bottles in the process.