Asics Is Making Sneakers Out Of Recycled Airbags

The current trend in the automotive industry is the extensive use of recycled and sustainable materials for the interior, but there are still a lot of car parts that are very difficult to recycle. Multinational sportswear brand Asics might have a solution for one of them as their latest product is a sports shoe made of recycled airbags.

Asics collaborated with Japanese company Toyoda Gosei to find a better use for left-over airbag fabric from the manufacturing process that would normally be thrown away. According to the company, the material is strong, flexible, and highly durable, making it a great fit for the upper part of the shoe.

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The new model called “Asics Gel-Sonoma 15-50” is a cross-country variant of the Gel-Sonoma trail running shoes. The designers retained the red stitching and numbering that is found in all airbags manufactured by Toyoda Gosei. As a finishing touch, they added an image of an inflated airbag on the tongue of the “sustainable sneaker”.

If you want a piece of recycled airbags on your shoes, the Asics Gel-Sonoma 15-50 retail for a pretty standard price of ¥16,500 ($128) starting from January 26.

This is not the first time that Toyoda Gosei finds clever ways of recycling leftover materials. The company has been transforming airbag fabric and excess leather from steering wheels into bags, pen cases, and other products sold under the Re-S brand. Toyoda Gosei’s collaboration with the sportswear brand will continue in the future, so get ready for more sustainable Asics products from recycled auto parts.