Elizabeth Segram of Fast Company –
Every year, Adidas makes more than 400 million pairs of sneakers. These shoes are part of the 900 million items–including clothing and sports equipment–the 70-year-old German conglomerate puts out into the world annually. Adidas’s mission is to create high-performance products for athletes, so the vast majority of the materials it creates are made from plastic polymers, which have the remarkable ability to be transformed into everything from springy foam in sneakers to moisture-wicking fabric in sports bras.
The problem with plastic is that it does not biodegrade.