Sustainability starts with design
Many agree that footwear reuse, repair, refurbishment and recyclability depend on the design phase, particularly designing for assembly and disassembly. This process incorporates principles like simplification of design, reduction and standardisation of parts and materials, glue-less joining, minimising flexible components, and designing modular products.
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing also holds significant potential for circular manufacturing by reducing waste, overproduction, supply chain and energy consumption while enabling the creation of parts for modular designs to facilitate reuse and repair.
However, implementing these changes requires a shift in business models and supporting infrastructure. Few, if any, market-leading sportswear brands own their own factories. So while hype around circular economy innovations is increasing, a lack…
