New Balance and Wolverine Worldwide have joined Natural Fiber Welding’s (NFW) Footwear Collective, a cooperative platform aiming to promote widespread adoption of low carbon, biobased materials from nutrients, which are safe to return to the earth at the end of a product’s life. Through the Footwear Collective, NFW and its partners aim to reduce impact across the value chain. Current members include Allbirds, Camper, Deckers and Ralph Lauren.
Katy O’Brien, senior manager of innovation at New Balance, said: “We have been working closely with NFW to develop plastic-free, low-impact materials that help accelerate us toward our corporate sustainability goals. Specifically, New Balance is developing pinnacle performance footwear in 2024 that leverages NFW’s Clarus natural yarns. NFW materials consider every stage of the material lifecycle – from sourcing natural and recycled ingredients to manufacturing with renewable energy and green chemistry to enabling end-of-life composting or recycling.”
Dr. Luke Haverhals, founder, and CEO of NFW pointed out: “NFW’s engineers have worked tirelessly to develop a natural solution for nearly every component of a shoe. We’ve been on this journey since 2015 with some of our earliest partners – like Allbirds, Camper, and Deckers – who have lent their invaluable insight. With their collaboration and deep alignment with our sustainability vision, we have kept iterating to deliver what the footwear industry needs and what consumers demand that simultaneously achieves our uncompromising sustainability.”
