Fashion for Good has launched a new pilot with brand partners, including Adidas and footwear recycling innovator FastFeetGrinded, to test and validate footwear recycling processes and to support the uptake of recycled content in footwear, towards a more circular footwear industry.
Globally, 24 billion shoes are added to the market each year according to Fashion For Good, and a staggering 90 percent of shoes are either landfilled or incinerated. The new collaborative pilot, which also includes Inditex, Target and Zalando, will instead divert pre- and post-consumer footwear to FastFeetGrinded, who will transform them into various new material granulates.
FastFeetGrinded claims to be able to deconstruct any type of pre- and post-consumer shoe, breaking it down into its macro-components. These macro-components are then subsequently grinded down into smaller high purity granulates which FastFeetGrinded may use to create material streams for repurposed use. Via its network of supply chain partners, FastFeetGrinded will produce output products such as outsoles, midsoles, and flip flops. The partaking brands will closely evaluate the products’ quality and purity throughout the pilot, aiming to showcase the potential of FastFeetGrinded’s footwear recycling technology and pave the way for scalable solutions.
With the demand for raw materials expected to triple by 2050, urgent action is needed to reduce the dependence on virgin resources. To meet demand, FastFeetGrinded operates in a 4000 square meter facility, and is already planning global expansion of its facilities.
Image source: FastFeetGrinded
