Reinventing sneakers: Will shoes have a regenerative future?

Sneakers – or trainers – once the footwear of athletes, are now fashion mainstays and a commercial behemoth of the footwear industry. From athleisure to street style, sneakers preserve the power to unite and inspire people from different social and cultural backgrounds to express their identities. 

In 2020, the global sneaker market was valued at approximately £56 billion and is predicted to grow up to £85 billion by 2026. According to the World Footwear Yearbook 2020, footwear production hit a new record of over 24 billion pairs of shoes produced annually with sneakers holding the largest share.

The cultural phenomenon that has seen this exponential growth in sneakers production and purchasing is matched with its carbon intensity: in 2016, they accounted for 1.4 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, a study conducted by MIT also found that a pair of running shoes typically generates approximately 13.6 kilograms of carbon emissions, mainly from manufacturing. 

As fashion is increasingly challenged to reduce its environmental impact, both big industry players as well as smaller brands are working to reduce the carbon footprint of sneakers, from material innovations to manufacturing processes.

In 2018, Puma and MIT Design Lab  created ‘breathing’ shoes, sneakers with learning insoles where bacteria complete the manufacturing in response to the biology of the wearer. Adidas also teamed up with Parley for the Oceans to produce the first performance shoe with an upper made from marine plastic waste.

Yet, despite such advances, as sneakers are seemingly unstoppable in their rising popularity, the footwear industry continues to lag behind on both its environmental credentials and working conditions. Can innovative and radical ideas, designs, materials, business models and production processes reinvent the future of sneakers? 

This event explores the evolution of the industry, from commodity to cultural icon, and its impact on both people and the planet, with a special focus on the role of design and innovation in integrating sustainability into sneaker production.