Material
The sports industry is heavily dependent on petroleum-based plastic. Sportswear, bags and running shoes from conventional brands are made almost entirely from this cheap material. With consequences: The production of plastics is extremely water- and energy-intensive, they pollute the environment on a massive scale and are often toxic to our bodies.
Polyester shirts, for example, are partly responsible for the fact that soil, water and now even air are riddled with microplastics. But the abrasion of running shoe outsoles is also problematic. In a city marathon with 50,000 runners, an estimated 40 kg of microplastics end up in the environment per race, which corresponds to around 1,300 standard 1.5 liter PET bottles.
Algae fibers
Algae blooms accelerated by climate change deprive water bodies of oxygen and often produce toxic gases. Skimming and processing algae in inner soles, for example, therefore directly helps the environment.
Castor Beans
Castor bean seeds and the castor oil extracted from them are able to optimally imitate petroleum plastic. We use them in our PEBAXRNEW® midsole foam, for example.
Natural rubber
The use of FSC-certified natural rubber, for example in our outsoles, not only reduces our dependence on crude oil. It also reduces environmental pollution from microplastics in the event of abrasion
Eucalyptus fibers
TENCEL™ Lyocell is made from eucalyptus trees grown sustainably in Europe, it reduces the formation of bacteria, is anti-static, has an anti-allergenic effect and controls moisture transport.
Sugar cane waste
We use the dry fibers (bagasse) left over from the production of sugar for various functions - such as midsole foam (SugaLite™) or textiles (Biospeed™).
Corn residues
Similar to sugar cane, maize residues in the form of BioPLA can also be used in a variety of ways. The advantage: the resulting polylactide can be recycled into new textiles, molecularly, i.e. without any loss of quality.
Wool
Fair new wool is breathable, moisture-wicking, temperature-regulating, odor-inhibiting, lightweight and elastic: the perfect replacement for polyester, for example in our BioSkyn™ shoe topper material.
Recyclates
We can't always do without plastic, for example when materials need to be waterproof or particularly abrasion-resistant. In such cases, however, we use recycled materials as much as possible and avoid materials made from virgin petroleum plastic.
