All the biggest shoe dogs are competing to see who can make the sneaker with the least environmental impact. Adidas and Allbirds are reigning champions with their joint Futurecraft.Footprint, which only emits 2.94kg of CO2e per pair. Asics, however, has just taken the title with the Gel-Lyte III CM 1.95, a shoe with the lowest carbon footprint ever achieved in a commercial sneaker.
The Gel-Lyte III CM 1.95 has been in the works for more than a decade. Researchers and developers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology partnered with Asics designers to create the blueprint. The midsole and sockliner use a carbon-negative foam, made in part from Septon Bio-series, a bio-based sugarcane polymer. Aligning with Asics’s goal of sourcing 100 percent of its polyester from recycled sources by 2030, the upper and mesh come from recycled and solution-dyed polyester.
