NIKE Puts Its Green Foot Forward

Someone asked me recently whether or not Fair Trade is really "charity in disguise"? In a previous post, I likened Fair Trade, to a better version of Free Trade, or "Free Trade 2.0". Fair Trade promotes the idea that the true cost of production is not properly reflected in most of the products we purchase. Fair Trade also seeks to motivate us consumers to understand that a small portion of our collective purchase power, can really nurture small companies, and encourage established corporations to innovate.

A favorite target of the Fair Labor activists in the past, is among the most well-known brands on the planet: Nike. Nike has responded to their efforts by taking working standards more seriously. Now Nike is challenging the traditional approach to making sneakers:

The new ethos at the Beaverton (Ore.) sneaker giant is known as sustainable design. Following a corporate-wide mission called "Considered," Hoke, 41, Nike Inc.'s chief design guru, urges his designers to create products that deliver more based on less -- less energy, less chemical content, less waste. He also tells the team to forget about glues, adhesives, plastics, and other toxic materials used in traditional sneakers. "I'm very passionate about this idea," he says. "We are going to challenge ourselves to think a little bit differently about the way we create products."

The premise for Considered begins with the deconstruction of a traditional sneaker. Hoke wants designers to rely on geometry, not chemistry, to figure how to rebuild a shoe. Shunning adhesives, designers are coming up with snap-fit systems that may be reinforced with organic cotton stitching. These fibers hold together mid- and top soles composed of natural leather instead of synthetics. In a basketball shoe, designers are replacing a plastic heel cup with one made out of natural materials. Instead of a foam lining pack, "we're looking at fillers of bamboo fiber, which are renewable" he says. "We're taking out what is not necessary."


Wow! One of the best-known brands is realizing that profitability, goes hand in hand with sustainability and social justice. When those sneakers hit the market, I probably will try on a pair of swooshes.