Adidas and Parley: a partnership for sustainable projects

Network organisation Parley for the Oceans describes itself as "the space where creators, thinkers and leaders come together to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of our oceans and collaborate on projects that can end their destruction". Plastic trash threatening the oceans ecosystem is Parley's main battle. To demonstrate how industry design can be rethought, Parley has been working with founding member adidas, the German sportswear company. Together, they came up with "a concept shoe made from reclaimed ocean plastic waste. The Ultra Boost prototype has an upper made of yarns and filaments reclaimed ans recycled from ocean waste and illegal deep-sea gill nets, and a midsole which is 3D-printed using recycled polyester and gill net content", explains the organisation.

The concept shoe was presented at an event on Climate Change hosted by the United Nations in New York last June, then the prototype was showcased in December in Paris at the 'Parley for the Oceans x Cop 21 – Oceans. Climate. Life.' event. "2015 is our year, the year of the Oceans: the ocean movement successfully brought the cause onto the COP21 agenda in Paris. Protecting life underwater became the 14th development goal of the United Nations. With a framework of political goodwill in place, it is the right moment to transform words into action" said Parley's founder Cyrill Gutsch, adding "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". Such involvement really gives hope for the years to come.

Photo: adidas - Parley for the Oceans