It’s tough. It’s light. It’s sustainably made. It’s… “a little like baking a cake”!
And…it’s a shoe. Yep. Nike’s line of shoes made from Flyleather.
Flyleather is made from leather, but leather plus. WIRED Magazine laid out the Nike formula: “…[Flyleather] combines leather scraps and polyester blend fibers. While traditional leather-makers discard parts of the hide that are blemished or too soft and stretchy, Nike takes those pieces and grinds them into a fine dust before combining it with polyester fabric and water. ‘It’s a little like baking a cake’ says Tony Bignell, VP of Nike’s footwear innovation.” (So yes, we are serious about that.)
If you’re a tennis player, you can pick up some Flyleather right now at the Nike shop online. And what you get – is a shoe that Nike believes looks exactly like leather but:
- Is 40 percent lighter
- Is 5 times more durable
- Uses 50 percent recycled leather
- Uses 90 percent less water to make.
- And looks like this.
In leather manufacturing, typically as much as a third of each cow hide can be tossed out. Combining that scrap leather with polyester (which in turn is made using petrochemicals) – makes a smart, sustainable combination that couldn’t exist with just one or the other. Welcome, Flyleather.
Click here to read more about what’s new, what’s next and what it means for you.
