Adidas pledges to make more shoes using recycled plastic waste in 2019

It looks like reducing plastic waste is the cause closest to Adidas’ heart. The sportswear brand announced ambitious plans to increase the production of shoes containing recycled plastic waste from five million pairs in 2018 to eleven million pairs in 2019. Such growth will be possible thanks to a collaboration with Parley for the Oceans, the environmental organization which collects plastic waste on beaches and turns it into a yarn that can be used in apparel and footwear.

“After one million pairs of shoes produced in 2017, five million in 2018, we plan to produce 11 million pairs of shoes containing recycled ocean plastic in 2019”, said Eric Liedtke, Adidas’ Executive Board Member Responsible for Global Brands, in a statement.

In addition, the company said it aims to increase the use of other sustainable materials and adopt further measures to prevent waste. One of its goals is to use only recycled polyester in every single product by 2024. Adidas is also one of the signatories of the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, a series of targets with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2050, signed last year by 43 fashion companies during a conference in Katowice, Poland.

Picture: Adidas Originals x Parley. Parley for the Oceans Facebook.