Balena Links With ForEver on Fully Compostable Shoe Soles
ForEver, a Portugese sole manufacturer, has inked a partnership with biomaterials company Balena to ensure the soles it makes don’t actually last forever.
The two companies announced Tuesday they would team to offer fully compostable soles, made possible by Balena’s BioCir material and ForEver’s mold injection processes.
Roubach said the partners have been able to quickly scale the solution because using BioCir Flex doesn’t require any additional investment in systems on ForEver’s part.
“It’s the same conventional machine that they use for other plastics, and I think this is what is so unique. We are not asking for any different injection molding machine; we don’t need to request anything else. It is exactly the same infrastructure as [you would use for] the polluting plastics,” Roubach told Sourcing Journal.
When a footwear brand wants to test out the new soles, ForEver can create a mold—or use an existing one, if the brand already partners with the manufacturer—to inject the BioCir Flex into. Roubach said that one particular type of shoe won’t be available yet: running shoes.
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“For the casual and the streetwear categories, we are equal to the other [materials being used]. With the more advanced material for running shoes, we are in process—so we’re not there yet,” he said, noting that a key piece of the VivoBarefoot partner’s value proposition is delivering the same performance and durability factors that TPUs and other plastics traditionally used to make shoes would.
The material for the soles is already available in four colorways—black, white, a natural tan and a “cinnamon” brown—but Roubach noted that if a partner requested a more eclectic color, all Balena would need to do would be to find the right pigment.
Though the cost for sustainable materials can sometimes be a deterrent for brands, Roubach hopes that won’t be the case for this partnership. While the compostable soles may come at a slightly higher cost, the founder said he believes brands will be willing to pay the price.
“The plastics that are being used in footwear are already expensive—a normal [thermoplastic polyurethane] (TPU) is an expensive plastic compared to others, so you won’t feel dramatically the change,” he explained “It will be a bit more expensive, but not something that is not affordable for mass production.”
Roubach noted that he knows another barrier to compostable shoe elements—or fully compostable shoes—has been connecting brands with industrial composters. Balena will work with the brands purchasing compostable shoes from ForEver to change that.
The company already has a network of five industrial composters globally that have tested and approved BioCir Flex to be used in their compost. Balena will connect brands directly to these composters.
Roubach said the team at Balena has been surprised to see how enthusiastic industrial composters have been about the partnerships.
“The composters are so happy that we opened a clean stream for them because for them, one of the most complicated things with compostable plastics that are coming from municipalities or packaging, etc., is that it’s not a clean stream. It means that they have one compostable bag with one non-compostable bag and that it’s ruining the compost,” he said.
If a brand collects end-of-life shoes in a warehouse far away from one of Balena’s partners, Roubach said, Balena will work with them to source a new partner closer to them.
“We’re always trying to…facilitate composting more locally, so we don’t need to start shipping…all over the world,” he said.
Though the soles would eventually break down if they made it to a landfill, the catalysts Balena’s industrial partners use to break them down is the preferred way to compost. Roubach said when brands create partly or fully compostable shoes, they will need to educate their consumers on take-back policies from the jump.
“As a consumer, when I’m buying and paying for a product, I’m basically also buying the responsibility of that product from now on. It’s not so fair because I didn’t manufacture this product; I didn’t even choose which material is going to be made with, but I am still buying the responsibility from the brand,” Roubach said. “It will be more and more part of being a fashion brand. You will need to have a solution for end of life, just as you have a solution for what to wear.”
