Produced in the company’s Speedfactory with its innovative technology, Futurecraft Loop is the first shoe designed to be completely recyclable. Its seamless upper is made from TPU yarn that is fused to a midsole without the need for glue. Once the shoes arrive at the end of their lifecycle, they can be returned to Adidas where they will be washed, ground down to pellets and melted for a new pair of shoes — with zero waste and a perfect circular economy.

“Taking waste out of the system is just the first step, but we can’t stop there. – explains Adidas Group executive board member for Global Brands, Eric Liedtke, in a note. – What happens to your shoes after you’ve worn them out? You throw them away if there’s no alternative, and they end up in landfills and incinerators where they increase CO2 emissions or end up filling the oceans with plastic waste. The next step is to end the concept of ‘waste’ entirely. Our dream is that you can keep wearing the same shoes over and over again.”

Futurecraft is accordingly design and innovation, but even more it’s art, science, technology, humanity, engineering, and sustainability. A release date has not yet been announced, but the first generation of the Futurecraft Loop will be distributed as part of a global beta program with 200 leading creators from across the world’s major cities. The data collected from the pre-release will be used as a roadmap for a wider release currently targeted for spring 2021.