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Nike, Native Shoes Projects Helping Shoe Industry Tread Lighter

Earlier this month, Nike announced the winners of its Circular Innovation Challenge, which called for new products using Nike Grind — Nike's ground-up post-factory and post-consumer materials — and new technologies to advance footwear recycling.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 6 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Earlier this month, Nike announced the winners of its Circular Innovation Challenge, which called for new products using Nike Grind — Nike's ground-up post-factory and post-consumer materials — and new technologies to advance footwear recycling. Five winning teams were selected for the “Design with Grind” part of the challenge: First prize went to San Francisco-based sustainable yoga gear startup YOGO, for its yoga bolster, cushion, mats and block made using Nike Grind. YOGO will receive a cash prize and the opportunity to partner with Nike to produce the product line.

For the Innovation Challenge, Nike teamed up with OpenIDEO, an SF-based design consultancy, to lead challenge entrants through a user-based design process whereby they interviewed and product-tested with users, and then rapidly refined concepts based on feedback. Business model concepts were specifically focused around a circular economy model.

"I was so happy to hear about this challenge, as YOGO is expanding our product line to include a variety of plant-based and recycled products, and it was perfect timing to receive help with the innovation process and experiment with the high-quality inputs from Nike," said YOGO founder Jessica Thompson. "It can be difficult to make big changes to product production methods in yoga and fitness products. We've been working hard at greening the supply chain, and were really happy for IDEO and Nike to align with us in this mission."

The four runner-up ideas were:

InShape Mattress (Milan) — a comfortable, conformable, vacuum mattress filled with Nike Grind materials, designed specifically for children suffering from the neurodevelopmental disorder Rett Syndrome.
Circular Cities (NYC) — street safety/traffic-calming products made from epoxy/recyclamine resin and Nike Grind.
pdd_kicks (Tokyo) — Diverse climbing holds for rock climbing walls made with Nike Grind Rubber Granulate.
Stuffed (London) — A suite of modern, modular furniture made with Nike Grind Fiber Fluff & Nike Grind Rubber Granulate.

Circularity by Design: How to Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors

Join us Thursday, December 5, at 1pm ET for a free webinar on making circular behaviors the easy choice! Nudge & behavioral design expert Sille Krukow will explore the power of Consumer Behavior Design to drive circular decision-making and encourage behaviors including recycling and using take-back services. She will share key insights on consumer psychology, behavior design related to in-store and on-pack experiences, and how small changes in the environment can help make it easy for consumers to choose circularity.

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“Our customers are always showing us how to keep it lite and have fun when they wear Native Shoes. It seemed like a perfect fit to turn them into something useful, on a playground where communities gather to have fun and play,” said Kyle Housman, President of Native Shoes. “We’re excited to be working with Zappos for Good on this project — what a great opportunity to team up and bring fun to communities.”

According to its website, the unique composition of Native Shoes allows them to be reground into a versatile material that can be used for everything from seating and playground flooring to insulation and more. The company can break down the materials found in every style of Native Shoes including sandals, slip-ons, knit sneakers and boots through a proprietary regrind process.

To kick off the project, the company will be accepting Native Shoes for recycling at its flagship location in Vancouver, and at its new Santana Row store in San Jose, California. In addition to expanding our collection program across Native Shoes retail stores, the company says it is partnering with key retailers to provide more collection opportunities.

To contribute a pair of well-loved Native Shoes, visit https://zapposforgood.org/recycle/native.