{"id":187143,"date":"2023-03-23T11:15:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T18:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=187143"},"modified":"2023-03-23T11:15:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T18:15:27","slug":"good-gear-dream-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-dream-on","title":{"rendered":"Good Gear: Dream On"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been two years since we first published a <\/em>Good Gear profile<\/em><\/a> about Swiss footwear company On and the brand\u2019s sustainability initiatives, which included the introduction of the industry\u2019s first-ever fully recyclable running shoe. Since then, the brand has seen significant change and is now a publicly traded company. With 1,700 employees globally and shoes available in 60 countries (compared to just 700 employees and 50 countries in 2021), we wondered how the fast-growing brand is doing on its eco-driven quest to make \u201chigh-performance products with the lowest possible footprint.\u201d In part two of this Good Gear series, we dive into the latest of On\u2019s green innovations and the collaborations behind them.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One day, in the summer of 2018, On<\/a> co-founder Caspar Coppetti had a thought: Wouldn\u2019t it be cool if we could make our Cloud shoes out of clouds?<\/em> By \u201cclouds,\u201d Coppetti didn’t mean using actual clouds\u2013those billowing white pillows of water droplets and ice crystals in the sky\u2013but the nebulous carbon dioxide emissions we never see and that are rapidly warming our planet<\/a> to dangerous temperatures. After five years of hard-won development, On\u2019s innovation team realized Coppetti\u2019s dream with the launch of CleanCloudTM<\/sup>, an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam made out of carbon waste. In September 2022, On released the Cloudprime, which features a CleanCloud midsole and is considered the industry\u2019s first shoe made from carbon emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2010, On has always prided itself on decoupling technology-forward footwear from petroleum-based resources. On\u2019s signature shoe line, the Cloud<\/a>, has been revolutionary thanks to CloudTec, its patented cushioning system with a unique scallop-edged sole. (A new version of CloudTec will be included in the updated Cloudsurfer, available at REI later this spring, and all future Cloud models.) But the Cloud, especially its earliest generations<\/a> that were largely made from a combination of fossil fuel-derived polyesters and foam, was hardly a poster child for On\u2019s Earth-first business ethos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, the company has diligently chipped away at its sustainability goals. The comparatively low-hanging fruit came first: Reducing water usage, transitioning<\/a> to using recycled polyamides and recycled polyesters, converting its labs in Zurich to run on renewable energy, making the brand\u2019s packaging 100% recyclable, and eliminating use of polyfluorinated chemicals. But the ultimate, yet more complicated, goal of creating a shoe that was made entirely from bio-based materials took the brand the better part of a decade to achieve. In 2020, the brand launched the industry\u2019s first circularity program, called Cyclon<\/a>, which provides subscriptions to the Cloudneo, a fully recyclable high-performance running shoe made entirely of castor beans. At the end of the Cloudneo\u2019s life, consumers return their shoes\u2013which On recycles to make new products\u2013and receive a fresh pair in exchange. The Cyclon program is available in 33 countries nationwide, reflecting a growing consumer interest in the circular economy<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet even with all of these strides in improved sustainability, the majority of On\u2019s running shoes are mostly made from petrochemicals, or \u201cfossil feedstock.\u201d That\u2019s because the sole is the most carbon-intensive part of a shoe, says On\u2019s Head of Innovation Ilmarin Heitz. Shoe uppers are marginally easier than shoe soles to make more sustainable by replacing petroleum-derived materials with recycled polyester or organic cotton. But developing a fossil-free alternative for the sole\u2014which receives more wear-and-tear and merits higher performance and durability standards than the upper\u2014isn\u2019t a simple swap of materials. It\u2019s a bit of a mad science experiment and, in the case of the CleanCloudTM<\/sup>, a total reinvention of the supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe origin material to make a running shoe\u2019s outsole is currently crude oil,\u201d says Heitz. \u201cFinding a [fossil-free] material that fulfills your needs is great, but\u2026the biggest question was how to overcome the challenge of scaling a promising new technology for mass production. We realized we needed to build a new supply chain. This is quite a big undertaking and long-term investment. It\u2019s not something you can create overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Borealis workers produce the EVA plastic pellets, a major ingredient of CleanCloudTM<\/sup> foam. Photo courtesy of Borealis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this Herculean feat, On needed help, which it eventually found in LanzaTech, Borealis and Technip Energies, some of the most cutting-edge engineering and biotechnology companies in the world. CleanCloudTM<\/sup> foam originates as carbon monoxide, which LanzaTech captures from industrial sources (think steel mills) before the gas enters the atmosphere. LanzaTech then takes those emissions and ferments them in a manner similar to brewing beer. The natural fermentation process turns the carbon into ethanol, which Technip Energies dehydrates to make ethylene. Borealis then polymerizes the ethylene into EVA plastic pellets, which On uses to create its CleanCloudTM<\/sup> foam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time carbon capture and conversion technology has been used to create consumer products. In 2021, activewear brand lululemon and LanzaTech<\/a> announced they were working in tandem to create the first fabric made from recycled carbon emissions. Car parts<\/a>, laundry detergent<\/a>, sunglass lenses<\/a>, fuel, even diamonds<\/a> and perfume<\/a> have been made from recycled carbon. Though this process of crafting carbon waste into products, known as carbon-to-value<\/a>, is still an emerging industry, there is enormous potential, both for the economy (some estimates indicate a six-trillion dollar global market opportunity<\/a>) and for CO2 mitigation<\/a>, an essential piece to curbing climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement of the Cloudprime, which is not yet available for purchase, signals a new chapter in sustainability not just for On but for the fashion industry as a whole. Instead of seeking a patent for the technology behind CleanCloudTM<\/sup>, On is committed to transparency and intends to share their knowledge about the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video courtesy of On<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe that On can be an agent for positive change through enabling and accelerating the scale up of sustainable technologies such as CleanCloudTM<\/sup>\u201d, On co-founder Caspar Coppetti said during the Cloudprime launch. \u201cFive years ago, [CleanCloudTM<\/sup>] was barely a dream. Imagine what can happen in the future as we unlock the potential of alternative carbon sources with further research and in collaboration with the best partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That teamwork mentality can be seen in every part of the Cloudprime. The CleanCloudTM <\/sup>outsole incorporates the world\u2019s first chemically upcycled TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) from post-consumer plastic waste, which On and circular start-up Novoloop worked together to develop. For the Cloudprime\u2019s upper, On partnered with French start-up Fairbrics to create a polyester-based textile that is also made from carbon emissions. It will likely be a while before these new carbon-based materials are incorporated into On\u2019s suite of shoes, but Heitz says the company looks forward to bringing the technology \u201cto as many consumers as possible in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, we can expect big things from On\u2019s innovation team. According to Heitz, the brand currently has over 50 sustainability projects<\/a> in the works that are all rooted in On\u2019s quest for circularity and ambitious goal to make every one of its products fossil-free. Among these is a fiber-to-fiber recycling partnership<\/a> with Carbios<\/a> and an all-star lineup of activewear brands including Patagonia<\/a>, PUMA, and Salomon<\/a>. This industry partnership seeks to scale Carbios\u2019 unique bio-recycling technology which, according to Carbios\u2019 site, \u201cuses an enzyme capable of selectively extracting the polyester [and] recovering it to recreate a virgin fiber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge is that there is nearly no experience in this field. We\u2019re all pioneers in our goal to move away from fossil fuels,\u201d says Heitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for On, that means we all must work together. <\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been two years since we first published a Good Gear profile about Swiss footwear company On and the brand\u2019s sustainability initiatives, which included the introduction of the industry\u2019s first-ever fully recyclable running shoe. Since then, the brand has seen significant change and is now a publicly traded company. With 1,700 employees globally and shoes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30729,"featured_media":187392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[724,1944,1376,591],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-187143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-run","tag-gear","tag-good-gear","tag-running","tag-sustainability"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-dream-on","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Good Gear: Dream On","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-dream-on","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/good-gear-dream-on"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/FW22_CleanCloud_Cloudprime_Editorial_4.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/FW22_CleanCloud_Cloudprime_Editorial_4.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333"},"articleSection":"Run","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cassie da Costa"}],"creator":["Cassie da Costa"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["gear","good gear","running","sustainability"],"dateCreated":"2023-03-23T18:15:25Z","datePublished":"2023-03-23T18:15:25Z","dateModified":"2023-03-23T18:15:27Z"},"rendered":"