PUMA RE:SUEDE Turns Experimental Sneakers into ‘Biodegradable’ Compost

11 December 2023: In 2021, PUMA created 500 pairs of experimental RE:SUEDE, using Zeology tanned suede, a TPE outsole and hemp fibres. RE:SUEDEs were worn for half a year by volunteers in Germany to test comfort and durability of the shoes before PUMA sent them to a specially equipped industrial composting area operated by its partner Ortessa Group in the Netherlands.

A special procedure had to be established to turn the shoes into compost. First, they were shredded and mixed with other green household waste and placed into a composting tunnel. They were then sprayed with leaching-water from earlier composting that contains nutrients and naturally heated due to biological activity and controlled air circulation in tunnel. After approximately 3.5 months, the materials that were small enough (<10mm) to pass through a sieve were sold as Grade A compost for agricultural use (within the standards of the Netherlands), while the remaining materials were returned to composting tunnel until they too had broken down to the desired level (<10mm).

“While the RE:SUEDE could not be processed under standard operating procedures for industrial composting, the shoes did eventually turn into compost,” said Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA. “We will continue to innovate with our partners to determine infrastructure and technologies needed to make the process viable for a commercial version of RE:SUEDE, including a takeback scheme, in 2024.”

Transparency is another important pillar of RE:SUEDE experiment, as PUMA will share its insights in a detailed report, so its peers and other interested stakeholders can learn from the experiment and apply the learnings to their own initiatives.

As a result of the feedback received from the people who wore the RE:SUEDE for half a year, PUMA will improve the comfort of future versions of the shoes by enhancing the overall fit by using a new material pattern for the upper and the sock liner.

RE:SUEDE experiment was the first programme, together with the novel polyester recycling programme RE:FIBRE, to launch as part of PUMA’s “Circular Lab”, an innovation hub led by PUMA’s innovation and design experts with the aim to create the future of the company’s circularity programmes.

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