Gallery: Adidas Spins Plastic from the Ocean into Awesome Kicks
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The Adidas x Parley shoe is made of two kinds of recycled plastic: PET, used most commonly for water bottles, and nylon from gill nets, retrieved off the coast of Africa.
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Making the nets soft enough for athleticwear requires grinding the plastic into a powder and then extruding it—a process that required new partnerships with materials engineers from across the United States, Germany, and Asia.
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The new design is the result of a year's worth of engineering efforts. The first prototype, from last summer, was unforgivably stiff—too stiff for an athlete to wear.
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The upper on the new design is entirely recycled plastic—about 16.5 old bottles and 13 grams of plastic from gill nets go into a single upper on one shoe.
