The collaboration of VivoBarefoot and Balena

In the UK, VivoBarefoot and Balena announced an ambitious new partnership to address the harmful impacts of the footwear industry through the combination of technology and material science inspired by nature. 

The journey toward a circular end-of-life system for footwear faces a significant challenge rooted in the intricate nature of shoes — both in their design intricacy and the diverse materials used during manufacturing. The complexity arises from the multitude of components, making recycling and reintegrating used shoes into the supply chain a formidable task. As a solution, the need for biodegradable material alternatives becomes imperative, offering a relevant environmentally friendly approach to the challenges posed by the current limitations of recycling in the footwear industry.
Balena aims to help tackle this by developing compostable, biobased, recyclable, thermoplastic materials with advanced performance properties for scaled durable goods production, including footwear, on a mission to create a circular model for consumer industries.

Balena’s innovative BioCir®flex material is a revolutionary breakthrough in the realm of material science for versatile applications including 3D-printed footwear.
Its proprietary BioCir®flex material is a high-performance, durable, flexible, fully industrially compostable, and recyclable thermoplastic elastomer. Comprising over 50% bio-based content, it actively reduces the dependence on toxic, fossil fuel-based materials typically used in the footwear industry and aims to replace unsustainable materials such as TPU, PVC, and LDPE. Through a biological recycling mechanism, products crafted from BioCir®flex are able to decompose and biodegrade, safely returning to the ground within controlled industrial compost environments in a fully circular life cycle.