Adidas, Allbirds expand lower-footprint footwear pact

In Germany, adidas and biobased sneaker pioneer Allbirds have announced they will scale up their low-carbon footwear collaboration to a larger 2022 launch. 

In May, the two companies unveiled Futurecraft.Footprint, a performance running shoe with a lower carbon footprint—2.94kg CO₂e per pair—than either company had ever achieved on their own.  The “design sprint” to engineer Futurecraft.Footprint included teams across product design, material innovation, sustainability and supply chain and leveraged Allbird’s experience working with natural materials. The shoes’ midsole is made from sugarcane Allbirds uses in its own branded sneakers, while the upper incorporated Tencel, a material made from wood pulp. 

“Futurecraft.Footprint shows how quickly progress can be made by sharing innovations and collaborating with competitors – an example that has the power to encourage others to rethink business as usual,” adidas says in a press release.  Adidas has set a target to reduce the average CO₂e footprint of every product 15% by 2025. 

A limited number of Futurecraft.Footprint will soon be available online and in-store. The expanded partnership will include a wider release with four new colors to be launched early next year.