Vivobarefoot and Balena‘s new shoes are meant to walk the earth—then biodegrade back into it.
The London-based footwear brand and the Tel Aviv-based biomaterials startup announced their partnership on 3D-printed, custom biodegradable shoes at Paris’ Biofabricate Summit Thursday.
The shoes, which will be made of Balena’s proprietary material, BioCir, will be 100 percent biodegradable, according to the companies.
David Roubach, Balena’s founder and CEO, said BioCir is a combination of natural materials and polymers.
“We’re using several polymers; all of them are fully biodegradable and compostable. The uniqueness is that we are combining them with natural ingredients—natural oils, polysaccharides,” he said. “The combination is what creates BioCir.”
Clark said the new kicks, which will be available in a neutral beige, will be produced via “scan-to-print” technology. The Circ partner launched VivoBiome, which touts made-to-measure, made-to-order minimalist footwear based on a scan of a consumer’s feet, with its Pioneer program last year. The Pioneer program is a product testing program made up of nearly 200 minimalist footwear enthusiasts.
VivoBiome shoes can be returned to the company, which reuses the materials to make future pairs. Clark said the VivoBiome technology will enable the 3D-printing portion of the new shoe-to-soil project.
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Clark said he knows consumers might have questions about the use of oils in the personalized footwear.
“Most people would say, ‘Well, how can it be compostable and non-toxic if there is oil, or if there is petrochemical material in it?’ There’s this really wonderful thing that chemists said to me recently—that nature doesn’t look at chemistry in the same way humans do,” Clark said.
Per Clark and Roubach, the BioCir that will be used for the footwear meets U.S. and EU standards for biodegradation.
Once the biodegradable shoes have reached the end of their lives, they will need to be sent to an industrial compost facility, said Roubach.
Clark said Vivobarefoot has relied on the Kitty Shukman partner for connections in the industrial compost space—but one holdup has so far come about.
“They’re not used to getting shoes because shoes aren’t compostable yet,” he said.
Roubach and team have already begun tackling that challenge by making contact with industrial compost facilities globally and allowing them to test out the biodegradability of BioCir.
“One of the most important things is that the industrial composter will be confident that the material is not ruining the compost because at the end, the compost is their product,” Roubach said. “We send samples, and they test it—it takes a few months to a year, but then they know us, they know the materials.”
Balena already has active industrial compost partners in Europe and the U.S., Roubach said. It will continue to expand its partner network, which will ensure the footwear consumers send back travels fewer miles, thus accounting for lower greenhouse gas emission levels as a result of the partnership.
Clark said the shoes will cost 200 pounds ($254) upon release. Vivobarefoot’s regular shoes currently cost between 130-200 pounds ($165-$254).
Once the footwear style goes on sale, it’ll only be available in the United Kingdom at first, Clark said. The shoes will be produced in Ireland, Roubach said.
Clark said he expects the innovative footwear won’t be available for purchase until at least Q1 of 2025.
Other companies have taken on the challenge of creating biodegradable footwear in the past. Adidas launched biodegradable sneakers in 2016, made with Biosteel fiber. In more recent days, California’s Blueview launched vegan, biodegradable shoes made with hemp, eucalyptus and other plant-based materials. And Unless Collective partnered with Natural Fiber Welding for a biodegradable bid with its “Degenerate” sneaker last year.
Clark said he hopes Vivobarefoot’s latest effort inspires other players in the footwear industry.
“We’re, in many ways, at the beginning of the journey, and we hope it will inspire more shoe brands and more innovators to rethink the system and create different solutions, because the shoe industry is seriously challenging,” he said.