Adidas Infinite Play – What is it?

By Josh Allen 

Adidas have announced the beginning of a new scheme: Adidas Infinite Play. But, what exactly is it? 

Well, if youÔÇÖve happened to of purchased any products from Adidas in the past five years, youÔÇÖre now able to send your old products in return for store credit: this includes anything from track jackets to old socks, with Adidas welcoming them back with open arms. 

The idea around this project is that Adidas will be able to repair these old clothes or recycle them forward for creation of new and exciting products. So, why is this something we should encourage? According to WRAP UK, around one kilogram of cotton costs uses an average of 10,000 to 20,000 litres of water to produce. As well as this, there was at least 800,000 tonnes of process waste from the clothing demand in 2016 alone, contributing to a mass increase in environmental decay. 

With Adidas offering this new recycling scheme, the fashion industry will hopefully see a decrease in the amount of excess used for our clothing needs. By doing so, this movement should help to inspire other sportswear and fashion brands to create similar schemes. The UKÔÇÖs ever-growing demand for easy and accessible clothing is damaging our environment at an unprecedented rate. Having said that, WRAP UK have discovered that the average annual carbon footprint of our new clothes calculates to the same amount of carbon emissions produced whilst driving the average modern car for 6,000 miles. It is imperative that more companies begin to evaluate their sustainability as we seek to slow down the impending climate crisis. 

Unbeknownst to some, Adidas have already made some big strides in reducing their usage of plastics. Beginning in 2016, they announced their collaboration with Parley ÔÇô a brand who utilise waste ocean plastic in order to create products, such as tote bags. Since then, Adidas have released multiple Parley based shoes, training wear and other accessories. Undoubtedly, this demonstrates that there is clearly a market for sustainable sportswear, especially those who are focusing on the recycling of plastics.

So, what other companies are taking a more sustainable approach to their sportswear lines?

Patagonia, an American brand, is probably one of the most prevalent sustainable clothing manufacturers within the sports industry at the moment. By doing so, they have started to make all of their cotton clothing 100% organic, beginning this process in 1996. As well as this, Patagonia as a brand have stated that 69% of their newest clothing line is made of recycled materials, with the average rate of recycled clothes in the industry being as low as 15%. Patagonia have also given customers a lifetime warranty on all products, dubbed the ÔÇ£Ironclad GuaranteeÔÇØ, guaranteeing that they will always make an effort to fix or repair your purchases for a fair price, removing a small contribution of clothes that end up in landfill. 

Perhaps a slightly less well-known brand, Veja Sneakers from France, provide products that are sustained from all organic or vegan materials, ensuring that they are sourced from Fairtrade farms and fairly paid workers. This ethical brand has also recently joined the sportswear market, introducing the ÔÇ£CondorÔÇØ running shoe. Veja have dubbed their design as the first ever ÔÇ£post-petroleumÔÇØ running shoe, with 53% of the materials being made from bio-based or recycled products; even so, 47% of the materials are still made from virgin based plastics or rubber, contradicting to their sustainable image. Despite this, it is still a good sign of things to come, with the sportswear industry needing a drastic change in its vast use of unnecessary plastics.

Personally, I think AdidasÔÇÖ Infinite Play scheme is spectacular, being a good motivator for their competitors to begin to create similar schemes for their brands and products. However, I believe itÔÇÖs imperative that mainstream brands look to smaller, exceedingly niche companies, such as Veja, to source their materials. There needs to be a higher emphasis on where brands get their materials from and the conditions under which their products are produced. After all, sustainable fashion should also be ethical and morally appropriate.