Adidas Used Illegal Fishing Nets In New Shoe

Adidas seriously just made a running shoe from garbage. According to TreeHugger, Adidas used illegal fishing nets in its newest designs as a way to raise awareness around ocean pollution and climate change issues. The company is working in conjunction with the Parley for the Oceans program, and both parties seem excited about what opportunities are ahead.

Parley for the Oceans describes itself as an organization where "creators, thinkers and leaders come together to raise awareness about the disastrous state of the oceans and to collaborate on promising projects that can protect and conserve them." Accepting this challenge whole-heartedly, Adidas used a zero-waste strategy to knit banned gillnets onto a prototype shoe. The nets were retrieved by Sea Shepherd, which undertook a 110-day expedition to obtain the nets from an illegal poaching vessel off the coast of West Africa.

In an Adidas press release, Cyrill Gutsch of Parley for the Oceans shared, "We want to establish the oceans as a fundamental part of the 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. We are extremely proud that Adidas is joining us in this mission and is putting its creative force behind this partnership to show that it is possible to turn ocean plastic into something cool."

While the shoe is currently just a prototype and not commercially available, I'm crossing my fingers they release it soon! Rocking sneakers that not only look awesome, but also serve as a piece of environmental activism? Yes please.

Image credit: Adidas