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Are Sneakers Unsustainable? When You See How They're Made, You'll Wonder Why They Don't Cost $2,000
It looks only slightly less complicated than building a missile
It's not often that I feel guilty after watching a manufacturing video, but this one did it to me.
I go through a pair of sneakers in under a year, and after seeing the absurd amount of labor, processes, machines, energy and materials that go into each, I can't believe that a) they wear out within eight months and b) they don't cost me $2,000 per pair. Watch how your average run-of-the-mill running kicks are made:
Good gosh. Fabric, leather, plastic, resin, rubber, foam, reflective material, adhesives; CNC sewing machines, manual sewing machines, hydraulic presses, stamps, glue-spraying nozzles, embroidery machines, heating machines, and all that handwork. And I will break them at the seams or wear the soles out in less than 250 days by doing nothing more strenuous than daily walking. I think I ought to start searching for a more sustainable form of footwear, or find a way to comprehensively recycle them.
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The answer is moving back to leather and vegan leather, and the old system of cordwainers and cobblers. But instead provide them with machines and digital tools that support the bespoke creation and repair of shoes by the individual on a profitable scale. Your leather uppers on your shoes will outlive you if you care for them properly.
I stopped buying New balance after my third pair wore out about as fast as yours have. Since then, I've bought three pairs from Chrome Industries after learning about their "Army Boot" toughness. I've only cycled three pairs because A) the first was white and got dirty fast (and I'm lazy) B) the second pair was felt, more dressy and C) leather sneaker for daily wear with a little more class than NB or Converse.
Planned obsolescence is a miserable excuse for design and material selection. I'd like to see a return to cobblers, others have noted, armed with new tools to repair and rebuild rather than discard. The damned PU midsole material performs well, for a time, then degenerates, making the whole shoe trash. This discussion triggered a swell in my mind that I have to excuse myself to evaluate, it may solve 30% of this problem.......
I actually did a footwear project attacking the sustainability problem. It won the 2016 Cradle to Cradle best student design award. You can check out "MODS" on my website at www.quangphamdesign.com or read about it in a past Core77 article (http://www.core77.com/posts/54307/How-Limited-Resources-Can-Inspire-Product-Innovation)
250 days? really? my new balances take a beating.