Do you know how badly I wish there were such a thing as truly zero waste shoes????

Like, really badly.

And I’m not even a shoe person. But when I committed to sourcing my clothes through ethical, sustainable means I just kinda assumed that it would be possible to find shoes the same way.

Turns out, I was mistaken.

Of course, this post is not ALL bad news. There ARE some sustainable shoe brands out there – Made Trade, Everlane, Rothy’s, Allbirds [among others]. But none are totally zero waste [that I have found]. And more importantly, none of them make performance running shoes – which is, of course, what I need.

Eco-Friendly Running Shoes

The issue with finding sustainable running shoes is that they have to be able to perform well. They need to have cushion and support or my running [and feet and knees and legs and hips] will suffer. They also need to be replaced every 300-500 miles because the soles wear down and then, once again, my running will suffer. This also means that I can’t buy them used.

My dream is to find a running shoe that is comfortable and lightweight and can handle 500 miles of pavement pounding AND is 100% biodegradable.

I’m telling you right now, that is a total pipe dream.

At best, I’m hoping for a brand to someday take back worn out running shoes to recycle into new shoes. That would be the second best option. If we could close the loop on the running shoes, I would consider that zero waste. But, unfortunately, no such shoe exists [at least not that I know of, but I have my eye on the new Adidas project called Futurecraft.Loop].

So, while I’m waiting for the perfect zero waste shoe, I had to find the best alternative.

And this is where my new Adidas UltraBOOST Parley running shoes come in.

Meet My Adidas UltraBOOSTs

These are a collaboration between Adidas [the athletic shoe giant] and Parley for the Oceans [a nonprofit that is trying to save our oceans]. The top of the shoe is made [of some undefined percentage] of recycled plastic from the ocean.

Well that’s pretty cool.

And, honestly, the shoes are pretty cool with or without the ocean plastic. They aren’t kidding when they call them UltraBOOSTs…

Eco-Friendly Non-Running Running Shoes

While I was researching sustainable running shoes – and by the way, I did A TON of research – I came across these beautiful runners by Allbirds.

Meet my Allbirds Tree Runners

Unfortunately, despite being called runners, they are not actually for running. But they are so beautiful and from such a great eco-friendly company that I bought a pair for casual wear.

You can wear these without socks!!! THEY ARE SO COMFORTABLE!!! And they are machine washable [which is important because I went with white].

These are sparking some serious joy, folks…

Even the packaging they came in was totally waste free. 👍🏻

In Conclusion

So, basically shoes are still tough to find zero waste – especially athletic shoes – but it’s important to me to do my homework and make the most ethical and most sustainable choice I can.

All I can do is give my consumer dollars to the companies that are doing their best for people and planet and hope that others follow.

If you have sustainable shoe brands to share, let me know!

🌍 🌎 🌏

Karis