PUMA has introduced its well-known shoes, the Suede, made with recycled materials. It didn’t effect the look of the iconic footwear, in opposite, the Suede look and feel more eco-friendly now. The launch called Re-Suede and stands for PUMA’s sustainability goals.
Photo: PUMA
The original PUMA Suede was first produced in 70’s and soon gained the status of iconic. In 80’s it was a Hip-Hop must-have and in 90’s every second alternative musician was wearing it. The new variation of the bright colored shoes has been developed using the latest materials and processes in eco-friendly product innovation.
All elements including sockliner, laces and sublining are made with 100% recycled materials and an innovative new outsole material. The synthetic ultra suede upper material is created by Toray, leaders in the development of environmentally-responsible materials. The synthetic suede is comprised of 100% recycled polyester fibers, produced by a chemical recycling process that reduces the energy consumption and the CO2 emission by 80% compared to the production of virgin materials.
Rice husk filler replaced a portion of the rubber content in the outsole. This Double R Rice Rubber is reducing the overall rubber needed, and saving considerable fossil fuel energy in manufacturing and agricultural resources.
Even the light weight of Suede is eco-friendly as it helps to reduce the fossil fuels needed in transport, saving 15 tons of carbon emissions for every ten-thousand pairs shipped.
The Re-Suede will be sold in PUMA’s award-winning Clever Little Bag. The sustainable packaging that replaces traditional PUMA shoeboxes and presents an innovation that has been developed by the sportlifestyle company during 21 months—designers have tested 40 ‘shoebox’ prototypes. This final design by Yves Behar showed reductions for all environmental impacts studied in PUMA’s Life Cycle Analysis, from production to transport to future re-use. The Clever Little Bag is claimed to save up to 8,500 tons of paper, 20 million megajoules of electricity, 1 million liters of water, 1 million liters of fuel oil, 500,000 of diesel oil and 275 tones of plastic.
