How Much Would You Pay for a Running Shoe Made from Carbon Emissions?
Swiss performance sports brand On launches first-ever running shoe made with EVA foam made from carbon emissions. Courtesy ON
Swiss performance sports brand On has launched the first-ever running shoe in partnership with LanzaTech, Borealis, and Technip Energies, using EVA foam made from carbon emissions.
EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate), generally used in the midsole, is a crucial component of a shoe dictating its cushion, comfortability, and performance. However, unlike the upper or outsole, sustainable solutions for the midsole are harder to come by.
Five years in the making and a first for the footwear industry, Cloudprime uses a new high-performance foam called CleanCloud™ made from carbon emissions as a raw material.
How it Works
To make CleanCloud™, On uses technology from LanzaTech to capture carbon monoxide from industrial sources like steel mills or landfill sites before the gas can be emitted into the atmosphere, where it would otherwise become a greenhouse.
Once captured, the emissions enter a patented fermentation process that turns the carbon monoxide into liquid ethanol through a natural process similar to the fermentation process used in breweries. Next, the substance is dehydrated (becoming ethylene) by Technip Energies before Borealis polymerizes the ethylene creating the EVA On uses to make the midsole's performance foam.
A spokesperson from On tells SFF that the company is also exploring ways to recycle the EVA foam. “So far, we have made significant progress in recycling, said the spokesperson in an email to SFF. “At the end of 2021, 53% of the polyester and 63% of the polyamide used were recycled, and 95% of the cotton used was organic, recycled or petrol-free – there is still more progress to be made for EVA foam.”
As for the sustainability credentials of the rest of the shoe, On collaborated with French start-up Fairbrics, to make an upper made with a polyester-based textile made from carbon emissions. For the outsole, On worked with chemical start-up Novoloop to make an outsole made from 32% post-consumer plastic waste.
Courtesy ON
Finding solutions to address the climate crisis means tackling the most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions. For the apparel and footwear industry, this means finding solutions for the conventional production of textiles and materials. If fashion can capture and convert waste emissions into the building blocks for material manufacturing, it could help the industry reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and move closer to a circular economy.
The problem, however, is that, as with many innovative ideas at the intersection of fashion, technology, and sustainability, efforts to develop carbon-captured materials are nascent and, in many cases, still in development due to significant financial and infrastructural barriers to progressing the technology for mass production.
“Scaling the technology will continue to be one of the biggest challenges we face. We realized we needed to build a new supply chain. This is quite a big undertaking and a long-term investment. It's not something you can create overnight.”
Government Support
In August, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), unlocking hundreds of billions of dollars in tax incentives and rebates to support technologies, including carbon capture, to help the country meet its global climate goals.
Courtesy ON
While some critics worry carbon recycling justifies industries continuing to burn polluting fossil fuels, supporters of these technologies say carbon capturing is a necessary part of the solution to meet our global emission targets and provide a viable solution for industries that will take longer to decarbonize.
For On, material innovation is top of mind as they navigate the future of fashion and sustainability. CleanCloud™ represents a step towards making all its offerings fossil-free and fully circular.
“Holding the first-ever shoe made of carbon emissions in my hands is a huge milestone – not only for On but for the whole sports industry,” explains Caspar Coppetti, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman of On. “Five years ago, this was barely a dream. Imagine what can happen in the future as we unlock the potential of alternative carbon sources with further research and in collaboration with the best partners.”
One of these partners are On's customers.
The Role of the Customer
Whether it's mycelium-grown leather or carbon recycled CleanCloud™, to be an alternative to the incumbent materials currently used in the industry, next-gen materials need to reach price parity (or become cheaper than conventional materials) in order to be sold at a price point that's affordable to the consumer. While government support like the IRA is needed to level the playing field for producers, customer buy-in is also necessary as industries build systems to cater to their audience.
Take, for example, the explosion of the secondhand economy. As resale continues to be the fastest-growing channel in retail, brands are responding in droves by tapping into the secondhand space, launching resale programs after years of skepticism and fear about what it would mean for their business. Supporting service providers also cropped up to aid this new market, making it easier than ever for customers to buy and sell secondhand.
Similarly, if consumers show interest in products like Cloudprime using carbon recycled materials, the industry will respond by creating systems, building infrastructure, and financing the technologies necessary to cater to this audience. As a result, these materials would become less challenging and less expensive to produce, and the final price point would be more affordable to customers.
“Consider the electric vehicle industry,” said Caspar Coppetti, co-founder and executive co-chairman of On. “15 years ago, the technology and demand looked very different than it does today. As consumer expectations and needs changed, so has the market. Though very different technologies and scales, we see a similar philosophy in the sportswear and fashion industry at large. It's our job to convince consumers why this is so important while maintaining the products' performance. When you look at the market for EVA foam, there is a similar ‘chicken and egg’ comparison. As consumer and company demand increases, so will the ability to scale the technology and product.”
While the Cloudprime sneaker is not available for purchase (yet), it's proof that CleanCloud™ technology can turn carbon emissions into performance products. Until then, aware that the price tag for innovative technologies is often high and tends to come with a subsequent perception of sustainability only being for the affluent, their latest milestone sparked internal questions about price point, accessibility, and the future of sustainability in footwear.
Courtesy ON
“As we evolve our go-to-market strategy and continue to build excitement for this new model of materials innovation, we hope to generate increasing demand that will help balance the significant investment that is required to make the shoe. We don't yet have a specific price for the Cloudprime, but our goal is to make the price competitive with other foam technologies on the market.”
While most shoppers favor sustainability, the attitude-behavior gap shows that few have integrated it into their buying habits. As companies and governments work together to make sustainability initiatives more affordable, customer buy-in is necessary to signal genuine interest and push brands to invest more in sustainable materials and technologies, leading to prices falling.
