Vegan leather sneakers are like a piña colada cocktail of materials.
NIKE has dropped its Happy Pineapple collection featuring a very happy pineapple and vegan sneaker uppers using Pineapple “leather” Piñatex®. Piñatex® is produced as a byproduct of pineapple harvesting.
Developed by Spanish designer Carmen Hijosa, Piñatex® is crafted from the byproducts of the pineapple industry. The material uses leaves left over from pineapple harvests and turns them into a usable material by extracting long fibers that are washed, dried in the sun, and processed into Piñafelt. This material is then used as a base for specialized finishing, such as treating with pigments and coatings to create colorful, durable, and waterproof vegan leather. From initial sampling to developing a viable supply chain, the Piñatex® journey is inspired by the principles of a Circular Economy and Cradle to Cradle values.
In addition to creating new income streams for subsistence farmers in the Philippines, the process for producing this vegan leather saves 264 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the air from the burning of 825 tons of leaves typically wasted in the pineapple industry.
Piñatex® materials in action
Can you tell which part of the shoe is using the PIÑATEX fibers?
Five silhouettes were chosen for the group (Air Force 1 and Free Run Trail, Air Max 95 and Air Max 90 and the Air Zoom-Type) and features earth-bound colors like coconut, sage, aqua, turmeric and other cool colors for the summer.
