The award recognizes Arkema and its partner ON for the development of the high performance Cloudneo running shoe that is designed to be recycled. This success has been made possible by many years of technological development of a set of performance materials able to match the requirements for the various parts of the shoe.
During the award ceremony in London, ICIS (Independent Commodity Intelligence Services) recognized Arkema for this collaborative project that pushes the limits of sustainable materials science, outstanding shoe performance, and modern recycling capabilities. The Cloudneo is produced entirely from Arkema’s advanced bio-sourced polyamide resins and can therefore be easily recycled.
Arkema played the role of sustainable materials expert by providing grades that are both highly advanced in terms of light weight, comfort and energy return, as well as being completely compatible during end-of-life recycling.
Arkema’s bio-based materials benefit from a low carbon footprint as they are derived from renewable castor beans with a favorable sustainability profile and state of the art production facilities.
ON, the Swiss sportswear company, then used these materials to develop the textile, foam, and other components to build the ‘Cloudneo’, a unique recyclable high-performance running shoe. The shoe itself is “leased” to the runner as part of a monthly subscription service named CyclonTM. The runner then returns the shoes once they are worn down to be reprocessed using Arkema’s Virtucycle® recycling program.
“This is a major step forward in terms of sustainable high-performance running shoes” said François-Xavier Dosne, Head of Innovation Business Strategy at ON. “We chose to work with Arkema as leaders in advanced bio-circular materials as we share a passion for innovation and a vision that sustainability and performance go hand-in-hand.”
Collaborating with ON has been a great experience for Arkema. Our advanced bio-based materials offer an exciting toolkit for companies looking to develop more sustainable products and with this Cloudneo shoe, ON is setting a new sustainability standard for the industry.”