Nike Turns Trash into…Shoes

Fashion and footwear brands have long been the target of environmental activists, not only for the wastefulness of "fast fashion" but also for excess produced during the manufacturing process itself. To combat this, many brands have taken proactive steps by introducing take-back programs and a few, like Speedo, have innovated to include manufacturing scraps in new products. Now, one company is taking this one step further, working to truly close the loop on its journey toward zero waste.

Earlier this month, Nike revealed that 71 percent of its footwear and apparel now contains waste from products in its own manufacturing process. The announcement ladders up to Nike's goal to have zero waste from footwear manufacturing sent to landfill or incineration without energy recovery by 2020. Nike is taking a two-fold approach to waste reduction, both during the manufacturing process and after consumer use. The material, called Nike Grind, is made from a combination of recycled sneakers from its Reuse-A-Shoe program, plastic bottles and manufacturing scraps. Nike's president and CEO, Mark Parker, stresses the new methods incorporate sustainability from inception and don't impact performance; "Coupled with smarter designs, we can create products that maximize performance, lighten our environmental impact and can be disassembled and easily reused."

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