Everyone wears them, everyone loves them.

But what is often overlooked: sneakers are the epitome of fast fashion and produce tons of waste.

Often produced cheaply and quickly, they are usually only worn for one season because a different model will be all the rage the next year.

And then?

In most cases, they end up in the old clothes bag in the hope that they will be taken to a "third world" country.

There someone will find joy in the worn-out shoes.

That would have even done something good for the world, right?

With this arrogant attitude, we often do exactly the opposite: we destroy the environment.

So what really happens to our donated shoes?

And how can we tackle this problem?

Aylin Guler

Editor for Social Media.

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The editors of the journalistic start-up Flip, which is known for its research on environmental and sustainability issues, asked themselves these questions and started the "sneaker hunt" experiment in 2021.

For this, eleven pairs of celebrity sneakers were bugged and disposed of in different ways to check the recycling promise of major fashion brands.

Flip reporter Lorenz Jeric explains: “The idea came about because fast fashion is a huge problem and it creates a lot of waste.

But the topic is usually told in a rather boring way.

We wanted to show something interactive through the experiment.”

Celebrities like Jan Delay, Joy Denalane and Carolin Kebekus handed in their old shoes, the Flip editorial team threw them in used clothes containers and recycling boxes from Zara, Nike or Adidas, which advertise that they "give them a new life".

What came out was pretty sobering: the recycling promises made by the big brands aren't much good.

The tracked sneakers led, among other things, to illegal landfills in Kenya.

With bad consequences for the people on site, because there are no reasonable disposal structures there.

“Basically, it's not bad that old clothes are arriving in Kenya.

The used clothing industry is huge, and many local people make a living from it,” says Jeric.

"But first of all it's far too much, and secondly the quality is so bad that, according to Greenpeace, almost half of it is unusable.

It then ends up in the environment or in landfills.”

But not all shoes end up in Africa.

“There are pretty big differences in where these sneakers ended up.

Three pairs landed in Africa, one pair in Ukraine.

But we also had couples who were destroyed directly in or around Hamburg,” Jeric recalls.

“We sold the Jan Delay sneakers to Zara, for example.

They ended up at a Hamburg disposal company.

We then lost the GPS signal there.”

So the research had to go into the next round - as a constructive experiment: produce their own sneaker, which is intended to tackle the garbage problem in Africa on a small scale.

For this purpose, worn sneakers are collected in Kenya, shredded and then recycled into a new sole.

The editors receive technical support from sneaker manufacturer Monaco Ducks.

The Faculty of Textile & Design at Reutlingen University is providing the scientific expertise, and the recycling start-up Africa Collect Textiles (ACT) acts as a partner in Kenya.

"Of course we don't want to solve the garbage problem in general, that would be far too big.

But we have to try to do something about it and report about it.

We have to show where the system is stuck," says Julian Hermsdorf, one of the founders of Monaco Ducks.

The Munich-based label has been producing shoes that are as sustainable and recyclable as possible since 2017.

"Then

the greatest product, no matter how sustainable it is, is of no use if it ends up in Kenya,” says Hermsdorf.

The sneaker itself is called “Marabou”, after the bird from the stork family, which can often be found on African rubbish tips.

"First and foremost, a sneaker has to look cool, because it feels like the most emotional product of our generation," says Hermsdorf.

"And that was also our claim to the design of Marabu."

This shoe is still a compromise because it is not made entirely of recycled material and is initially made in Portugal.

Ideally, production will later take place in Kenya itself, which is where the old sneakers collected by ACT come from.

They are shredded into a granulate ("grinded", hence the name), which is used as part of the sole.

In addition, there is a material mix that consists of around 90 percent renewable raw materials (60 percent natural rubber, 30 percent rice husk ash).

The upper consists of a further 15 components, 13 of which are made from recycled materials.

A deposit system is intended to ensure that the sneakers are returned after use and recycled again or finally disposed of properly according to European standards.

The recycling sneaker should also be produced in Kenya and enable those involved to earn a wage.

The ecological and social impact of the project is continuously and independently evaluated.

Crowdfunding started on October 4th to finance the market launch and production of the shoe.

After just 54 minutes, 10,000 euros and thus the minimum goal had been reached.

Meanwhile (as of October 25th) the amount is already well over 70,000 euros.

After the end of the campaign, the supporters will first receive their sneakers, later they will also be available via an online shop.

Above all, the project is intended to educate the public about problems and solutions on the way to a sustainable textile industry and to contribute to sustainability education.

"Many people fall for all this greenwashing because they just don't know any better," says Hermsdorf.

"That's why the core goal of this project is to create awareness and at the same time make it tangible."