Adidas's Truth or Dare: How will the world's first single-material, 100% recyclable shoe be sold? Following the launch of the first-ever sneaker made from ocean plastic, Adidas has unveiled the FUTURECRAFT.LOOP, the first-ever 100% recyclable shoe. However, this new shoe, embodying the circular economy and revitalizing old shoes, has presented Adidas with an unexpected dilemma: how to sell it? A pair of flawless white shoes, gleaming like pearls when exposed to light, are part of Adidas' new FUTURECRAFT.LOOP collection, launched this year. However, these shoes are only being given away, not sold, to only 200 lucky winners worldwide. This isn't some marketing ploy; it's because the world's second-largest sportswear brand is struggling to sell these shoes, the first-ever 100% recyclable, shredded, and repurposed running shoes. From the sole to the laces, they're made entirely from a single material: thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Instead of adhesives or stitching, the entire shoe is "fused" using heat and pressure. A circular economy product is trending, but brands don't know how to sell it. Why are brands, even those skilled in marketing, struggling to sell products that are 100% recyclable and align with today's circular economy trends? The most straightforward answer is: the shoes aren't perfect yet. Making a pair of shoes from a single material sounds simple, but it's actually not. This is because a pair of shoes contains approximately 12 different materials, including adhesives and chemicals, many of which can't be easily separated. The first hurdle in achieving complete recyclability is simplicity: shoes need to be designed like plastic bottles and cardboard boxes, so that a single material can be easily shredded, melted, and reused. "Honestly, when I first heard about it, it seemed simple. I thought making shoes from a single material would be easy, and that the materials were readily available. Later, I realized those materials didn't exist. In fact, we craft every part of the shoe from scratch using TPU pellets," said Sam Handy, Vice President of Design at Adidas. Making shoes from a single material presents daunting engineering challenges. Using a single material completely contradicts the traditional footwear supply chain model, presenting these shoes with significant engineering challenges. First, shoes will shrink. A size 9 running shoe will gradually shrink to a size 6. Adidas is still fine-tuning the FUTURECRAFT.LOOP's base yarn and exploring the right weaving method. Second, an old pair of shoes cannot be made into a new pair. While 100% recyclable, recycled materials currently only account for 10% of the next generation of shoes, a far cry from the 100% goal. Yellowing is the third issue. Yellowing isn't limited to the soles; different weaving methods can cause uneven yellowing across the shoe. Would a pair of shoes with yellow spots everywhere be unsightly? Would consumers accept it? There are other variables as well. The first generation of FUTURECRAFT.LOOP was like a pure white canvas, but it was bound to get dirty, and stubborn dirt, grass stains, and yellow spots were all crushed away. The remade shoes have lost their pearly white, the final traces of their past lives shaping the colors of their present lives. Generation after generation, there's no guarantee they'll eventually dissolve into a puddle of mud. To address this, Adidas' designers may gradually introduce dyes, allowing the shoes to weather and "reincarnate" over time, transforming from aqua to midnight blue, as if performing the magic of time. Therefore, the first generation, launched in April of this year, is essentially a test version. While refining the technology, Adidas will also use this to gauge consumer feedback, which will inform the launch of the second generation in spring and summer 2021. Overturning the traditional linear model and creating a closed loop. Why is Adidas going to such great lengths? Because they want to disrupt the traditional linear business model of "produce, consume, and discard" in the footwear industry, creating a closed loop where a pair of shoes can enter an infinite cycle, achieving immortality. "What happens when you wear out your shoes? You throw them away—but they have nowhere else to go but into landfills and incinerators, ultimately becoming excess carbon that chokes the atmosphere, or plastic waste that fills the oceans," said Eric Liedtke, a member of Adidas' executive board, who acknowledged the environmental damage shoes cause. In 2016, Adidas took the first step by partnering with Parley to launch the first-ever running shoe made from marine plastic and discarded fishing nets, known as "ghost nets," giving marine debris a second life. The next step is to end the concept of "waste" altogether. "We dream of a world where you can wear the same pair of shoes over and over again," Liedtke said. The traditional buyout model isn't working, so is the "subscription economy" model? Besides solving technical problems, the greater challenge in resurrecting old shoes is actually how to sell them. Compared to the current buyout model, this type of product is unprecedented. Adidas isn't even sure how to price and recycle these shoes, which repeatedly "fail and resurrect." Limited-edition new models sell out easily, as consumers often get bored with the old and love the new. The challenge is getting them to pay for a shoe that's been reborn time and again. According to Fast Company, Adidas has various ideas: including a free return box with every shoe purchase, providing a free 1.5-year replacement pair while the shoes are waiting to be reborn. Or adopting a "subscription economy" approach, emulating "Rent the Runway," which rents out high-end designer clothing, or Dutch brand Mud Jeans, which rents denim for €7.50 (NT$270) a month. "We understand that this is a distant vision, technologically, behaviorally, and in every other way," admits Tanyaradzwa Sahanga, Adidas's head of technology innovation. The truth is, even the global footwear giant doesn't have the answer yet. Truth or Dare: A Throwback for Finding Solutions to Reduce Plastic. "We choose to be honest and expose our vulnerability. We don't have all the answers, but we can't just sit back and wait for them to emerge," said James Carnes, Adidas' Vice President of Strategy and Initiatives. Paul Gaudio, Adidas' Global Director of Innovation, agreed that no one wants to expose their shortcomings: "It's risky. We could wait a few years to find more answers before announcing them, but that wouldn't help the industry progress." Perhaps this is the "running shoe version" of the "throwback" approach. FUTURECRAFT.LOOP is an open experiment, recruiting industry partners to find solutions to waste shoes and demonstrating how companies can take full responsibility for the product lifecycle and fulfill their corporate social responsibility. "We've said internally that the birth of LOOP is the beginning of ending waste... If we get rid of plastic waste and solve the problem on a large scale, then we win, we all win," Gaudio pointed out that Adidas's "truth or dare" game has the ultimate goal of making all stakeholders in the footwear industry—including brands, supply chain manufacturers, consumers, and the planet—winners.
