Shoes made from apple or pineapple peel? That’s old news! A new wave of even more innovative products is ready to hit the market. From olives, coffee grounds, rice or eggshells to olive tree, pine, mussel, and tomato by-products, a brand-new line of products—recently finalized under the BioShoes4All project—will be unveiled at the next edition of MICAM, taking place in Milan from September 7 to 9.
The BioShoes4All initiative, which brings together 70 partners—including 20 research and development institutions and 50 companies—and involves an investment of €62 million under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), is now entering a decisive phase. “We have engaged companies representing the entire value chain,” highlights Maria José Ferreira, “all focused on driving a radical shift in the sustainability of materials, chemicals, manufacturing processes, business models, and final footwear and leather goods products.”
According to the project’s coordinator, “BioShoes4All is the largest project ever in the Portuguese footwear industry and the biggest investment in research, development, innovation, and capacity-building carried out in such a short period, made possible by Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the EU’s Next Generation funds.” Maria José believes that “given the way it has been organized, the project has significant transformative potential for the Portuguese footwear cluster, with international impact.” Several of the new solutions developed are expected to reach the market as early as 2025 and will be showcased to potential industry clients at the world’s leading footwear trade fair.
Maria José Ferreira stresses that “these new products are designed and refined based on studies that measure and reduce their environmental and carbon footprint, focusing on the development and selection of materials and processes.” Essentially, they are “lightweight, appealing products made with fewer different materials to enable agile production and recycling. The materials and products incorporate by-products from human or animal food, including rice husks, cereals, olive pits, chestnuts, mussel shells, vine prunings, algae, among others, which reinforce or constitute new materials, insoles, reinforcements, or soles. They also valorize waste from national agri-forestry industries, such as pine bark, coffee, or olive extracts used in leather tanning. Waste from leather, components, and footwear production is recycled to create new leathers, components—including toe puffs, counters, soles, and footwear.”
Additionally, “the new footwear and leather goods products are more durable, have a lower environmental footprint measured according to the European PEF method,” and can also be “repairable or recyclable/circular.” Furthermore, “production processes are redesigned, humanized, and eco-efficient, minimizing the use of chemicals, energy, effluents, and production waste.”
VALUE IN REUSE
One of the main areas of intervention in the BioShoes4All project is recycling. “The project addresses all materials potentially used in footwear, promoting the creation of new molecules or formulas for the production of leather, adhesives, rubber, polyurethane, or EVA, and manufacturing processes that emphasize overall sustainability and a closed production cycle,” recalls Maria José Ferreira. “The motto is to be innovative, inclusive, efficient, and to embrace ‘zero waste.’” For this reason, the new generation of leathers, insoles, and soles will be “up to 100% biological, recycled, or recyclable, with superior functionalities—flexible, abrasion-resistant, or slip-resistant, among others.”
In addition, investments are underway in cutting-edge technologies to produce bio-leathers, bio-plastics, bio-rubbers, and bio-components. “The project contributes to the implementation in Europe of the first systems for producing components and footwear using expanded and recyclable thermoplastic materials,” she concludes.
