A plant-based performance running shoe

Among the shoe's sustainable features is a midsole made from castor beans, which offers high-performance and lightweight cushioning

Spotted: Sports and footwear brand Reebok have announced the launch of a plant-based performance running shoe, the Forever Floatride Grow. This comes as part of the brand’s aim to reduce its use of petroleum-based plastics and create a shoe that uses mostly sustainable natural ingredients, without compromising its performance.

The running shoe’s midsole is made from sustainably grown castor beans, which offers high-performance and lightweight cushioning, and it has a naturally biodegradable upper made from sustainably-sourced eucalyptus trees. It also has a sock-liner made from Bloom algae foam that offers natural odour resistance and features a natural rubber outsole that has been sustainably sourced from real rubber trees.   

Reebok brand president, Matt O’Toole, explained that the running community has been the most vocal and passionate about wanting more sustainable products: “We want to help runners perform at their best, while also feeling good about the products they wear,” he said, in a release.

The Forever Floatride Grow will be launched in Autumn 2020. In a further effort to create more sustainable products, Reebok has also committed to reducing virgin polyester from its material mix and aims to eliminate its use altogether by 2025.

Earlier this year, Springwise spotted a similar creation from Reebok’s German parent company Adidas, who developed running shoes made from 100 per cent recyclable material.