Reebok Floatride Forever GROW shoe in a farm with plants, vegetables, plant-based, shoes, performance, sustainable, eco-friendly, Reebok
©Christopher Cardoza

Why You Need to Park Your Assumptions to Create Plant-Based Shoes

Mike Andrews shares a deep dive into what goes into innovating sustainable materials for footwear at Reebok.

Running shoe with shoe sketches in a collage with skyscraper buildings in a city, sustainability, futurecraftloop, buildings, highrise, tennis court, city, circularity
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The adidas Sustainability Series

A classic white and straw shoe, using a neutral pallet with earthy tones is how our marketing messaging describes our new Forever Floatride GROW running shoe.

It looks beautiful, right? Alongside the fabulous produce from a local Boston farmer this sneaker fits right in. And that’s the whole premise of these plant-based shoes. 59% of the shoe material comes from the land – castor beans, eucalyptus tree, BLOOM algae foam and rubber trees.

Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. I am Mike Andrews, Director of Advanced Development for Reebok’s Future team. In early 2014, I was challenged by the head of our team, Paul Litchfield, to learn everything I could about sustainability and build a plant-based shoes platform to support it.

Not only did I have to upskill myself in the area of eco-innovation, but I also quickly learned that I’d have to leave by assumptions about eco-friendly footwear at the door.

Meeting the unexpected

Eagle perching on a compost truck at farm, animals, wildlife, Reebok, Mike Andrews
©Mike Andrews

During my first visit to a composting facility in Washington, I was met by unexpected inhabitants: American bald eagles. By my estimate, there had to be at least twenty. For most of my life, I had only seen them on TV. They were an endangered species, and since I’d never actually seen one in person, their presence in such quantity startled me.

I had encountered what is often referred to in TED Talks and corporate speak as a paradigm shift – a fundamental change in basic assumptions. In the quest to build plant-based shoes and get Reebok started on a new path that might shape its future, seeing these bald eagles would only be one of a series of paradigm shifts, failures and learnings.

Defining our moonshot

Paul Litchfield had worked on a shoe called Telos back in 1994. Made from corn oil, recycled rubber and pecan shells, Telos was WAY ahead of its time. Sustainability topics back then didn’t have the same awareness of today. But fast forward to 2016? The appetite was growing for big changes to happen in the footwear industry.

Reebok Forever Floatride GROW with a box of vegetables in a farm, Sienna Farms, Reebok, sustainability
We looked to the land and what Mother Nature had to offer to help direct our moonshot. ©Christopher Cardoza

For me and my team, that moonshot would be a performance running shoe that looked and performed better than any other – but would be made entirely from plant-based materials and commercially or municipally compost. This was certainly a lofty goal, but every mistake and every failed test has been a journey of growth, education and, of course, even some frustration and doubt.

Let the learning begin

So, with my assignment in hand, I spent the next three years attending trade shows and lectures from renowned plastics engineers. Whenever I came across an interesting material, I would test to see if it could fit within the project scope.

As I progressed, I also learned about the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides. The FTC is the US government agency that is tasked with protecting consumers from fraud and deception, and their green guides are designed to prevent corporate ‘green-washing.’

It became quickly apparent that, in addition to learning about materials, it would be equally important to establish a validation process to authentically (and legally) commercialize our plant-based shoes’ sustainability story. I set out to understand the compliance laws and testing standards, even attending a three-day course on commercial composting!

Where the composting magic happens

That discovery brought me to Cedar Grove in Everett, Washington. Cedar Grove is an industry-leading environmental solutions facility that composts more than 350,000 tons of residential and commercial yard and food waste annually, diverting it from a landfill. As it turns out, eagles love the warmth and readily available food scraps of this large-scale composting operation.

Along with technicians from Cedar Grove and the Compost Manufacturers Alliance (CMA), I oversaw a series of tests to see what happens to shoes after they’ve been worn and discarded – the back end of the process.

Reebok shoes in the compost bin, plant-based, sustainability, dirt, Reebok
These shoes that look like a canvas NPC are made with a starch-based plastic cupsole and placed in a nylon mesh laundry bag (to make it easier to find) filled with compost. ©Mike Andrews
Reebok shoes in sustainable bag composting in organic matter, sustainable, compost, Reebok
Then the bag and its contents are buried in the middle of an active compost windrow. Within a matter of hours, the temperature in the center rises to around 150˚F/66˚C. Bacteria blooms to life, pushing the temperature higher still as organic matter is digested and converted into carbon dioxide. ©Mike Andrews
Pile of compost and dirt at a farm, compost, dirt, organic
The pile is left to cure for at least 45 days, and then is screened through a large motorized trommel to sort out any large pieces and contaminants. What remains is beautiful black compost. ©Mike Andrews
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From failure to surprise

The moment of reckoning came when after 60 days at Cedar Grove my nylon bags with my shoes were pulled out just before the compost is made. I knew that if the technician found any trace of the shoes, the test would be a failure.

Unfortunately, the test was a ‘failure.’ But here again is where another major paradigm shift occurred – and my assumptions are proven incorrect.

While the cotton upper was completely intact, it was actually the plastic parts which had decayed significantly. The stiff plastic cupsole now had the consistency of Feta cheese, and had disintegrated into pieces.

Expectations dashed but knowledge grows

So, what do you do when your hypothesis is proven incorrect? When your expectations turn out to be the opposite of what you thought? You learn and move forward with greater knowledge and greater confidence.

In recent years, as the drumbeat of environmental issues like climate change and fracking have only grown louder, we at Reebok have become even more committed to be a leader and to move the industry in a positive direction. And, while we knew that our moonshot of fully-compostable shoes needed more time and research, we were able to take what we learned and pivot to create, test and produce products that delivered on our goal of changing the important front end of the process – what our shoes are made of.

Plant-based shoes start to bloom

Reebok Cotton and Corn sneakers in white, sustainable, plant-based, Newport Classic, Reebok
Newport Classic (NPC) Cotton & Corn introduced 35 years after the first release.

In 2017, we introduced the NPC UK Cotton & Corn, a lifestyle shoe aptly named for the shoe’s ingredients, and established the Reebok Sustainability Platform, which has two key pillars, [REE]GROW and [REE]CYCLE. The platform guides us and gives us focus on this journey. It has also led us closer to the fully compostable plant-based shoes we’d envisioned years earlier.

Now, in just a few days, on October 1st, consumers will finally get to experience a product seven years in the making: Forever Floatride GROW, a plant-based, true performance running shoe, that is one of the most sustainable athletic shoes ever created.

Designer sketches of running shoe with sketches of plants, Reebok, Forever Floatride GROW, innovation, design, Ricardo Vestuti
Nature and natural materials were the inspiration for the Forever Floatride GROW design. Here's the sketch of Senior Creative Lead Designer Ricardo Vestuti. ©Ricardo Vestuti
Reebok Floatride Forever GROW sustainable shoes in a box in farm, plant-based, shoes, performance, running
These plant-based shoes are certified by US Department of Agriculture. ©Christopher Cardoza
Reebok Floatride Forever GROW with materials in a farm, sustainability, plant-based, Reebok
Forever Floatride GROW uses natural materials such as castor beans. ©Christopher Cardoza
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Certified by the US Department of Agriculture, Forever Floatride GROW is the result of the work of many people, not just me, and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished. But it’s just the beginning.

Zoomed in image of detailed shoe parts, Forever Floatride GROW, sustainability, natural, bio, Reebok, running, plant
Built to breathe: Eucalyptus bark creates a breathable mesh upper.
Zoomed in image of detailed shoe parts, Forever Floatride GROW, sustainability, natural, bio, Reebok, running, plant
Cushioning that counts: Castor bean oil helps create highly cushioned foam while natural rubber adds flexible traction.
Zoomed in image of detailed shoe parts, Forever Floatride GROW, sustainability, natural, bio, Reebok, running, plant
Comfort stride: Bloom algae provides a comfortable footbed.
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Nobody said it would be easy and we have much to learn. But I take a great deal of pride in what we’ve accomplished.

I’m hoping to get a chance to see those bald eagles again when normal travel resumes. We’re still not at our moonshot goal of an entirely plant-based, compostable performance shoe. But we’re closer than we were and learning every day.

The adidas Sustainability Story – Leading the Change

How adidas is driving innovative sustainable solutions designed to transform our industry and our planet.

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by hamid 14.10.2020
Herbal shoes are a great idea because they return well to the natural cycle when they expire. Also, if we do not have food to eat, we can cook and eat it like Charlie Chaplin.
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24.09.2021

Week 5 | Studio and Entrepreneurship | Collaborative Mix

First time here?