Fashion for Good has unveiled an innovative initiative, ‘Closing the Footwear Loop,’ aiming to tackle the footwear industry’s circularity challenges. The project brings together 14 leading brands to rethink the traditional "take-make-dispose" model, shifting towards circularity and innovation across the entire value chain. Brands participating include adidas, Martens, Inditex, lululemon, Puma, Zalando, and others.

The global footwear industry produces 23.8 billion pairs of shoes annually, with around 90 per cent of them ending up in landfills. The complexity of footwear, which often includes over 60 different materials per shoe, makes recycling and circular practices difficult. This complexity, combined with insufficient reverse logistics infrastructure, has hindered circular innovations in footwear, unlike in other areas of fashion.

‘Closing the Footwear Loop’ aims to change this by addressing key issues such as lack of end-of-life infrastructure, multi-material designs, and the need for unified circular approaches. The project includes detailed mapping of European footwear waste streams, which will inform solutions for recyclability and rewearability. In addition, it will produce guidelines for circular footwear design and assess end-of-use innovations, with the goal of driving industry-wide change.

Fashion for Good’s initiative aligns with its broader efforts to reimagine the lifecycle of footwear, creating a blueprint for future industry practices. This collaboration marks a critical turning point for the sector, as brands work together to create more sustainable solutions and reduce environmental impact.

Katrin Ley, Managing Director of Fashion for Good, emphasizes, "We’re not just addressing a challenge we’re creating a blueprint for systemic change.”