The new material offers a unique combination of properties that are crucial in performance, such as being 15 per cent lighter in weight than conventional synthetic fibres as well as having the potential to be the strongest fully natural material available. Biosteel fibre also provides a far more sustainable offering, with it being 100 per cent biodegradable in a fully natural process.
Adidas and AMSilk had also announced their partnership to explore the use of Biosteel fibre in performance products on a larger scale, at the Biofabricate conference.
“In a year of ground-breaking innovations from Adidas, the announcement of our partnership with AMSilk and the unveiling of the Adidas Futurecraft Biofabric shoe is another step in our commitment to redefining the sports industry. This concept represents premium innovation. By using Biosteel fibre in our products, we have achieved an unrivalled level of sustainability,” said James Carnes, vice president of strategy creation at Adidas.
“The sports shoes which have been developed together with Adidas are the first products worldwide with a high-performance material made of nature-identical silk biopolymers. With this development we are setting new standards regarding the functionality of renewable textiles,” said Jens Klein, CEO of AMSilk.
The introduction of the new shoe prototype continues Adidas’ journey of sustainable innovation – from a starting point of virgin plastics, to recycled plastics, to its partnership with Parley for the Oceans and now a totally new frontier of investing in solutions that leverage science and nature as an integral part of innovation. (KD)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India