Today a friend of mine sent me a Whatsapp message with a video titled "How Adidas Turns Plastic Bottles Into Shoes."
I shall not go into what the video is about because the title of the video is sufficiently self-explanatory of the content of the video. Here is the video if you wish to watch it:
That video prompted me to ask the question: "How many sports companies are there doing this?"
Surprisingly there aren't many although there are many brands producing all kinds of useful products out of recycled ocean plastics. Besides Adidas, I came across only one other sports company that uses recycled ocean plastics to make sportswear. That company is Nature Hommage, which makes sports leggings, sports top and sports bra, all of which are designed to be worn both in and out of gym.
Perhaps there are others but I missed them. If you know of any you could mention them in the comment section below.
There is another company, sperry that makes boating shoes using recycled ocean plastics. But boating shoes are not really sports shoes. Are they?
The World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation have made claims that by 2050 there will be more plastics in the ocean than fish. We are producing about 400 million tons of plastics each year and 50% of that is for single-use (i.e. for a few moments). Since these plastics are not bio-degradable they remain on the planet for a few hundred years.
If we are concerned about sustainability we should be looking for brands that support such endeavors. We have plenty of choices outside the sports domain but unfortunately we have hardly any choices with sportswear.
