Adidas Ultraboost - Made To Be Remade

Adidas releases their single material UltraBoost “Made To Be Remade” for a circular economy

Back in 2019, Adidas presented the first generation of Futurecraft Loop. The knit running sneaker was meant to be a proof of concept for creating something that can be fully recycled at end-of-life. The company openly announced that it will only use recycled plastics in all of their products by 2024 and the Loop concept is a step towards circularity. After years of testing, this new technology is now being released to a broader public for the first time. On April 22, 2021, Adidas is releasing the first production batch of the Ultraboost “Made To Be Remade”.

Made To Be Remade

Almost all of today’s sneakers consist of a big material mix that is glued and stitched together. At end-of-life, these products end up in landfill or incineration, because of a lack of economical ways to recycle them. With the “Made To Be Remade” Ultraboost, Adidas introduces a sneaker that is truly made from one single material. Every component in this shoe is made from TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane). This includes the outsole, midsole, upper, laces and detailing. Conveniently, these components can be welded together with heat instead, entirely eliminating the use of glue. The colorway releasing this week is also undyed and contains a QR code on the tongue to receive more information about the sneakers and the recycling program.

Recyclability

When you are done with the sneakers, you can return them to Adidas. They will be shredded and the materials will be treated and turned into resources for the next shoes. The shoes are fully recyclable, but only a relatively small percentage of the next shoe will contain material of the previous shoe, since virgin material is still needed to keep product quality and performance high enough. Of course, the end goal is to make a shoe that is actually one to one recyclable. The release on April 22 seems to be exclusive to Creators Club members in the US, but Paul Gaudio, global creative director at Adidas, once said that they will be able to sell tens of millions of Loop sneakers in three to five years. 

Will you try to get your hands on a pair of these innovative Ultraboosts?