Recycled Plastic Bottles is Equal to New Sneakers

New Balance created newSKY, a pair of shoes made out of 95% recycled plastic bottles.

It uses fabric made from post-consumer plastic bottles developed into a comfortable, well-designed shoe. The material used for the upper of newSKY is called Eco-fi, a high-quality polyester fabric made out of post-consumer plastic bottles – about 8 makes one pair. Within just a few steps, plastic becomes a usable, recycled textile. Plastic bottles are collected, chopped up into flakes and melted, and molded into fibers, which are then weaved to create a polyester fabric called ‘Eco-fi’ that is used to make the shoe.

Image via www.newbalance.com

The other 5% of the shoe is its rubber components (NB Minimus outsole), foam and water-based glue.

The concept of newSKY was founded on the principles of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.