It was now a year ago that adidas and Allbirds announced their partnership to create the most sustainable running shoe ever, with the lowest carbon footprint ever produced. The idea was to reduce carbon emissions and the environmental impact of producing a sneaker (the footwear industry emits 700 million tons of carbon dioxide annually).
On the one hand there is adidas, with its great experience in footwear construction, and on the other Allbirds, a company known for its use of sustainable materials. Two “rival” companies working together for the good of the planet, a perfect combination to carry out such an important project: the new Futurecraft Footprint shoes have a carbon footprint of less than 3 kilograms of CO2 per pair.
How was this possible? First of all, by working on the right shoe: Adizero, one of adidas’ lightest running shoes. The midsole was modified, creating a base of SweetFoam, a cane sugar based "foam" that Allbirds uses to make its shoes, with the contribution of the know-how of the people who invented and marketed that shoe, Adidas. The lighter shoe requires less fabric, but also weighs less in transport and therefore reduces the environmental impact between production and distribution. All the variants are calculated and weighed up to try to find solutions that lower the level of environmental impact in footwear production. The upper is a mesh made from 70% recycled material and 30% Tencel (a cellulose fibre material made from wood pulp). There is no colouring, no glue and no dyeing, which is why the trainer is and remains white, and there are no additional panels: everything is held together by stitching alone.
Initially, the model was available exclusively to members of the adidas Creators Club through a lottery of 100 pairs in May 2021, another 10,000 pairs will be sold as a “drop” in the fall/winter 2021 season and the commercial launch to the public will follow in the spring/summer 2022.
This very important collaboration between two competitors in the fashion industry who decide to share ideas and resources leads to the hope that it will be an example for other brands to follow. An invitation to always take on new challenges, set new goals, and go a little further.