I haven't written about sustainability in awhile, not that it isn't on my mind, but I'm busy and sometimes it gets pushed back to where it ultimately stays, in my head. But this covers both my worlds: a green running shoe?
The Trance 8 (which looks like a normal running shoe!) will debut on July 1st, 2008 and feature a bioplastic midsole, titled BioMoGo. The uppers will still feature traditional oil-based materials, but the midsole will degrade in about 20 years, about 2% of the time that traditional midsoles take to breakdown.
While I am a devout New Balance user, the concept of a shoe that is a little friendlier to the environment as me thinking about which brand to purchase in the future provided the reviews come in saying that performance won't suffer too greatly.
Brooks is approaching their business from a socially responsible platform while not sacrificing innovation. Like many of my post on sustainability, I think that business challenges require us to think within the confines of being green and innovating with environmental constraints in place. I look forward to what else they bring to the table. Runner's World experts seem excited too.