Concept show may not hit shelves though.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: German sportswear giant Adidas has joined forces with Parley for the Ocerans to raise awareness for ocean conservation. Aside from pledging to undertake projects to protect the world’s oceans, Adidas has revealed a new prototype shoe that has an upper made entirely from recycled ocean waste and illegal sea-sea gillnets.
The gillnets were retrieved by Parley for the Oceans partner Sea Shepherd, which spent 110 days tracking an illegal poaching vessel, finally catching it off the coast of West Africa.
The eco-friendly innovation in footwear was unveiled by Adidas’ Eric Liedtke and Parley for the Oceans founder Cyrill Gutsch last week at a Parley for the Oceans event hosted by the United Nations.
The concept shoe, which does not have a name, may not hit the shelves in its current form, but something very much like it is planned. It’s an indicative concept for a line of consumer-ready products made from ocean plastics that Adidas and Parley for the Oceans will be releasing later this year.
“At Parley for the Oceans, we want to establish oceans as a fundamental part of debate around climate change. Our objective is to boost public awareness and to inspire new collaborations that can contribute to protect and preserve the oceans”, Gutsch said in a statement.
He said they are enormously proud that Adidas has joined in to work with them on the project. Adidas’ partnership shows that it is possible to turn ocean plastic into “something cool,” he added.
According to UNESCO’s reports, there were approximately 46,000 floating plastics found in every square mile of ocean in 2006. Per experts cited by Perfect Science, plastic debris is considered to be responsible for the deaths of over a million seabirds and 100, 000 marine mammals every year.