ALEXIS OLANS HAASS

Haass is the director of sustainability for Adidas Purpose, leading the team that develops and brings to market sustainable products and feeds into how the drive for greater sustainability affects the sportswear behemoth’s overall brand strategy.

Key initiatives include the Parley range of shoes and clothing made from recycled plastics that would otherwise pollute the world’s oceans, and the new Moonshot range, which commits to using entirely recycled polyester in every product where possible, by 2024. Both are examples of the key strategy of cutting off the flow of virgin material and moving on to using recycled materials. As Haass says, ‘Talking about ocean plastic, enabling people to visualise and understand the plastic problem, is starting to change the desirability of recycled products.’

The next phase in the strategy is what Haass and Adidas term the Circular Loop – which involves not only using recycled materials, but also ensuring the product itself is circular – ie that it’s made to be remade. This, Haass stresses, involves changing business models and consumer thinking along with materials and the manufacturing process, but the theory is on the way to becoming reality with the game-changing Futurecraft Loop running shoe, which is scheduled to be available to the public in 2021.

This is a fine example of a big brand using its enormous resources and leverage to drive real change in the industry and consumer behaviour: ‘With the Futurecraft Loop shoe we’re trying to spur on the conversation about the need to transition to a new circular economy,’ says Haass.