The Adidas Ocean Plastic Running Show is Finally (Almost) Here
It's the first shoe ever made with Parley Ocean Plastic.
Plastic is terrible for the ocean. This doesn’t mean that the ocean isn’t full of the stuff: Every year humans release between 5.3 million and 14 million tons of plastic into the sea. This kills thousands of marine animals and sea birds and threatens human health.
Feeling concerned? Good. Now go make an Instagram video about what you’re going to do about it and you could win a pair of dope, limited-edition [Adidas sneakers. The announcement of the competition is tied to World Ocean Day, a United Nations sanctioned global campaign to protect the ocean.
The Adidas x Parley running shoe is the first commercial shoe to be made from Parley Ocean Plastic. This plastic is collected from the coastal area of the Maldives and illegal deep-sea gillnets retrieved by Parley’s (an artistic oceanic conservation group) partner organization Sea Shepherd. By replacing the plastic typically used in a performance sneaker with recycled marine debris, Adidas and Parley are turning waste into a running shoe.
Adidas describes the product as a "shoe for change."
But no matter how cool these shoes are, it’s going to be challenge to get one of the 50 available pairs. Contenders have until July 31 to upload a video to Instagram and explain how they are going to stop using single use plastic items. This is tied to this year’s World Oceans Day theme “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet” and is specifically tied to taking action to reduce plastic pollution.
This probably will come as a disappointment to those who have wanted a pair of these eco-friendly babies since last June when a prototype of the shoe was presented at the United Nations. That shoe was apparently pretty crappy to actually run in: For the past year Adidas has been modifying the sole and perfecting the process of turning gillnets, plastic debris, and discarded fishnets into fibers, yarns, and polymers. The process is diligently documented here on the Adidas blog.
These shoes are a convenient way to feel like you’re helping the planet while jumping on the hot train of recycled plastic fashion. The good news is if you don’t win a pair, Adidas has hinted that in the second half of 2016 one of its “top footwear franchises” will also begin to integrate Parley Ocean Plastic.
Now only if we could get like, a trendy vest that gets people to be smarter about what seafood they eat or a fedora that gets everyone to stop using synthetic fertilizers.
