ADIDAS
Company aims to switch to 100% recycled polyester in all products by 2024 / Goal to replace virgin plastics in goods and on premises worldwide
 Eric Liedtke, adidas' head of global brands (Photo: adidas) |
Sporting goods giant adidas (Herzogenaurach / Germany; www.adidas-group.com) is making plans to increase its usage of recycled polyester as well as other plastics. Adidas’ executive board member and head of global brands, Eric Liedtke, told the Financial Times, “Our goal is to get rid of virgin polyester overall by 2024.” He said about 50% of the material used in the 920m individual items that adidas sells is polyester. “With those kind of volumes, we cannot make the transition overnight.”
Liedtke said price difference is one reason the group is taking six years to transfer to 100% recycled polyester. “We have to make sure we take right-sized bites so that we can maintain our current margin structure,” he said. “We can absorb some costs every year, but we could not absorb it all in one year.”
The target is contained within adidas’ sustainability strategy, which includes using more sustainable materials in its production, and to ultimately replace all virgin plastics in its products. It aims to use 100% recycled polyester in every product and on every application, where a solution exists, by 2024. The company says its spring/summer 2019 apparel range already contains approximately 41% recycled polyester.
In 2015, adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans (New York / USA; www.parley.tv) – see Plasteurope.com of 27.04.2015 – and launched its “Parley” running shoes that are made of recycled ocean plastics waste – see Plasteurope.com of 16.07.2015. An adidas spokeswoman told Plasteurope.com that 1m pairs of Parley shoes were sold in 2017, and the company expects 5m pairs of Parley shoes to be sold in 2018. The company estimates that each pair of Parley shoes prevents approximately 11 plastic bottles from entering the marine environment.
In 2016, adidas’ stores already switched from plastic to paper bags. The German company is also planning to replace virgin plastics used in its offices, retail outlets, warehouses and distribution centres worldwide starting in 2018. It estimates saving more than 40 t/y of plastics with this measure.
Liedtke said price difference is one reason the group is taking six years to transfer to 100% recycled polyester. “We have to make sure we take right-sized bites so that we can maintain our current margin structure,” he said. “We can absorb some costs every year, but we could not absorb it all in one year.”
The target is contained within adidas’ sustainability strategy, which includes using more sustainable materials in its production, and to ultimately replace all virgin plastics in its products. It aims to use 100% recycled polyester in every product and on every application, where a solution exists, by 2024. The company says its spring/summer 2019 apparel range already contains approximately 41% recycled polyester.
In 2015, adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans (New York / USA; www.parley.tv) – see Plasteurope.com of 27.04.2015 – and launched its “Parley” running shoes that are made of recycled ocean plastics waste – see Plasteurope.com of 16.07.2015. An adidas spokeswoman told Plasteurope.com that 1m pairs of Parley shoes were sold in 2017, and the company expects 5m pairs of Parley shoes to be sold in 2018. The company estimates that each pair of Parley shoes prevents approximately 11 plastic bottles from entering the marine environment.
In 2016, adidas’ stores already switched from plastic to paper bags. The German company is also planning to replace virgin plastics used in its offices, retail outlets, warehouses and distribution centres worldwide starting in 2018. It estimates saving more than 40 t/y of plastics with this measure.
27.07.2018 Plasteurope.com [240297-0]
Published on 27.07.2018
German version of this article...