Coffee is one of the most consumed products in the world. Around 2 billion cups are drunk every day.
However, all that coffee produces a lot of waste. Coffee grounds often end up in landfill or being washed into sinks, contributing to the food waste problem.
շ informs that two entrepreneurs Son Chu and Jesse Tran have started making sneakers from used coffee grounds. Being sneaker obsessives, they were concerned about their environmental impact. However, they couldn’t find sustainably made sneakers that were stylish and affordable. So they made some.
Their business, called Rens, combines fabric made from coffee grounds with recycled plastic waste. A pair of their sneakers weighs 460g – 300g of that is coffee. The equivalent of six plastic bottles is also used in each pair.
One of the advantages of the sneakers is the natural property of coffee grounds- eliminating odors, which is good news for anyone familiar with the smell of well-worn sneakers. Currently the shoe-making processes are handled in China, but it says it has ambitions to move manufacturing to its founders’ home country of Vietnam.
It is noteworthy that Rens isn’t alone in using food byproducts and waste to create clothing.
Clothing company Hugo Boss has a range of footwear made from Pinatex, derived from pineapple plant fibre. Fashion designer Stella McCartney is backing a leather alternative called Mylo that is made from mushrooms. Italian fashion label Salvatore Ferragamo has a range of clothes that use a material made from orange peel. And Swedish fashion retailer H&M uses algae in the soles of some its sandals.