I read the below article recently (original article published here) and started thinking about how similar fishing nets and yarn are. Imagine if we took all the leftover yarn we had from all of our projects and did something amazing like this? I love seeing people turn a negative like illegal fishing and harming our oceans and sea life and turning it into a positive and useful thing that we all wear - sneakers. “The problems we face are many, but so are the solutions." Well said indeed.
Discarded Plastic Fishing Nets Retrieved from the Ocean Used in New Shoe Prototype by Kate Sierzputowski
Adidas is now designing shoes from our oceans’ detritus, recently producing the world’s first prototype with parts constructed from ocean plastic and illegal deep-sea gillnets. The athletic apparel manufacture partnered with Parley for the Oceans as collaborators, a group of creators, thinkers, and leaders who design projects that aim to end the destruction of our oceans.
The community explains, “Our oceans are about to collapse and there is not much time to turn it around. Nobody can solve this alone. Everyone has to be a part of the solution. And collaboration is the magic formula.”
An ally of Parley, the Sea Shepard Conservation Society, collected the materials for the shoe while tracking an outlawed poaching vessel off the coast of West Africa. The concept for the shoe was then created in just six days, the prototype showcased at the UnxParley launch event in New York on June 29.
Parley explains that this concept is only the beginning, but is an example of how impactful creative collaboration is. “The problems we face are many, but so are the solutions. Stay tuned to learn more about how Parley will end ocean plastic pollution.” Although the partners have explained that this specific concept might never be commercially available, Adidas plans to introduce recycled plastic into their manufacturing process by early next year.
