(Photo: The SuperEarth sneakers from Adidas Superstar and Sean Wotherspoon. Credit: Adidas)Adidas and American sneaker designer Sean Wotherspoon developed new vegan footwear made from plant-based materials and upcycled fabric. Their SuperEarth Superstar shoe is set to release at the end of this month.
The collaboration between Wotherspoon, co-founder of the vintage retailer Round Two, and Adidas was created with sustainability in mind, Victor Deng reported in Footwear News. “We researched plant-based, recyclable, alternative, and vegan materials that we could incorporate into the shoe so it can have multiple lives,” Wotherspoon told Adidas, according to Deng.
SuperEarth reimagines the Adidas Superstar, which first debuted 50 years ago as a low-top leather basketball shoe. Instead of the cowhide leather upper, the new sneakers don’t contain any animal ingredients, the collaborators say. Besides vegan leather, the construction includes “100% recycled polyester lining, reused Ortholite sockliners, natural rubber composed outsoles, vegan glues, and paper-made laces,” Michael Le wrote on Sneaker News.
Using natural cork for the insole helps lower the sneaker’s carbon footprint, Vegan Food & Living reported. A tag inside reads, “The truth is that this shoe alone will not save the planet,” the outlet said. “However, we challenged our creation process to find more sustainable solutions. Consider this a commitment for continuous innovation in the field of sustainability.”
Making the carbon footprint of a sneaker as small as possible is one of Adidas’ environmental goals. Earlier this year the company teamed up with sustainable shoe startup Allbirds to develop what they hope will be “a sports-performance shoe with the lowest carbon emissions.”
Adidas plans to make the SuperEarth shoe available online and through select retailers starting August 29. In an Instagram post announcing the collaboration, the sportswear manufacturer said that, along with Wotherspoon, they were “committing together to a more sustainable world, one shoe at a time.”
