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The Germany-based sports shoes and clothing manufacturer Adidas tries to raise awareness on the dizzying levels of pollution oceans currently face in a unique fashion– by designing a concept shoe entirely made from ocean plastic debris and illegal gillnets.
During this campaign, Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans, a group whose main target is to preserve and protect planetary oceans. Last week, during an event hosted by the UN, the sportswear maker’s representative Eric Liedtke and the conservationist group’s founder Cyrill Gutsch unveiled their joint project – the shoe whose upper is manufactured from ocean trash. The idea was to prove that waste can become cool stuff through a proper recycling process.
Ocean pollution, however, has reached staggering proportions. A 2006 UNESCO report showed that every marine square mile is populated by 46,000 pieces of plastic debris on average. Plastics kill more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals each year. But the figures may be much worse since these are only estimates.
The illegal gillnets used for the sneakers were found by Sea Shepherd, a conservationist group that had teamed up with Parley for the Oceans. Sea Shepherd kept a close eye on a poaching vessel for more than 100 days. It eventually managed to catch the vessel nearby the West African coasts.
Gutsch explained that climate change should revolve around ocean pollution in the first place. And this partnership with Adidas was one of the attempts to raise public awareness over the issue. The group is also seeking new collaborations with high-profile partners to help it preserve oceans.
“We are extremely proud that Adidas is joining us in this mission and is putting its creative force behind this partnership […],”
Parley for the Oceans said.
The partnership was announced in April when Adidas also disclosed that it would ditch plastic bag use in all its retail stores.
The German sportswear company said they were excited to join Parley for the Oceans in its quest of raising awareness on ocean pollution at the United Nations. Adidas also said that its business model is oriented towards sustainability, so the recent partnership would allow it to access new areas and design new products from “innovative materials” for their athletes. Adidas also launched a public invitation for everyone to join their efforts to clean up the oceans.
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.
Image Source: My Modern Met
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