Native Shoes creates trainers from single piece of algae-laced foam

US brand Native Shoes has developed a sneaker that is entirely made from one continuous sheet of algae-enriched EVA in a bid to clean up the footwear industry. EVA, short for ethylene-vinyl acetate, is a flexible, rubber-like plastic often used to form the cushioning midsole of trainers or, as in the case of Crocs, even the whole shoe. In this design, 10 per cent of it is replaced with Bloom foam, which is made from repurposed algae taken from waterways, though the remainder is plastic. "Replacing even this amount of the EVA with Bloom cleans 80 litres of water per pair, and keeps 15 balloons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere in comparison with a pair made up of 100 per cent EVA," explained Native Shoes ‘ design and development manager Gabe Lam. That’s because, to create the material, the eponymous company behind Bloom takes algae out of fresh water waterways, where according to the company it is present in epidemic levels duo to the global temperature rise. "Specially engineered water tanks filter up to 662 litres of algae-polluted water per minute through its mechanism, while also netting around 140 kilograms of algae in a single day," Lam told […]

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