11/14/2023 0 Comments They are billions trainer 2020In 2018, Nike was recognised by Textile Exchange as the brand using the most recycled polyester in the industry for the sixth year in a row from 2010-2018, the brand turned 6.4 billion plastic water bottles into footwear or apparel. In 2015, Adidas teamed up with environmental initiative Parley for the Oceans to release the first performance shoe with an upper made from marine plastic waste and illegal deep-sea gillnets (fishing nets that are hung vertically so that fish get trapped by their gills) last year, it revealed the Futurecraft.Loop, a 100% recyclable running shoe. They are shaped by energy-intensive processes such as injection moulding, foaming, and heating – and then bound together with environmentally damaging chemical solvents.įuelled by mounting concern, industry monoliths Nike and Adidas were pretty quick off the mark. Most trainers are made from problematic materials including nylon, synthetic rubber and plastic. More than 23 billion pairs of shoes are made every year, of which a large proportion are trainers more than 300 million pairs are thrown out in the same time period. And the news isn’t good: trainers leave a heavy – excuse the pun – footprint. On the same day (probably no accident), West launched the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Earth, a minimalist symphony of browns and olives.īut, as ethical spotlights turn with intent on the fashion industry, footwear is coming under greater scrutiny. In February this year, Scott, arguably the preeminent collaborator in the industry, released his take on the SB Dunk, transforming Nike’s skate shoe with a mix of plaid and paisley, braided laces and pink swoosh. From variable height tread to the multi-density mid-sole, from the flex point to the lace lock: each component offers a site for technical and creative wizardry. The result is that the modern trainer is a complex entity. “ the modern audience who are driven by hype and money.” “Yeah, you have core sneakerheads who love the history of design,” says Kitty Cowell, a stylist who self-admittedly owns a “silly amount of trainers”. In fact, their status as a commodity may play a large part of sneakers’ appeal. At Sneaker Con, in the heaving Trading Pit, over $1m worth of sneakers can be traded at any given event. Resale alone is estimated to be about $1bn (£777m). In 2018, the global trainers market was valued at approximately $58bn (£45bn), with a forecast of $88bn (£68bn) by 2024. In fact, it is reputedly West – with the 2015 launch of his iconic Adidas YEEZY line – that really propelled the shoe into the mainstream.Īnd where culture goes, money follows. Factor in the enthusiastic patronage of cultural heavyweights such as Michael Jordan, Travis Scott and Kanye West, and the trainer is now a bona fide cult item. Tech and innovation, the elevation of sportswear into luxury, high-profile collaborations with the likes of Dior and McQueen and the influence of street culture have combined to turn a basic accessory into something much, much more. Sneaker culture has transformed in the past decade. “The great part about Sneaker Con is that it sees that all these people have something in common – and that starts with our sneakers.” “Sneakers represent so much, from a person’s style to what they have been through,” stylist Aleali May, one of only two women to design for the Nike-owned Jordan brand, commented at the time. On shelves and tables, held aloft by eager vendors, thousands of pairs of trainers, including some of the world’s rarest kicks, were on display. Last December, more than 12,000 so-called ‘sneakerheads’ descended onto the Anaheim Convention Center in California for Sneaker Con, the world’s biggest sneaker convention.
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