Nike reconsiders shoe-making story

A shoe with no glue may not sound radical. But in the mechanized world of sneaker construction it’s akin to revolution, and Nike (NYSE: NKE) is leading the crusade with a boot, a gym shoe, a mule, a sandal and a rock-climbing shoe.

Part of the company’s new Considered line, the shoes are earth-colored and moccasin-like, aimed at a group Nike calls “independent consumers.”

“They dive very deeply into the products they buy ... they seek out stories and are very environmentally conscious,” said Nike general manager of sustainability Bill Malloch. “Considered is not geared to kids buying basketball shoes at the mall.” Considered does build on previous Nike shoe designs, Malloch said, especially the Presto (see “Best Foot Forward,” SIJ, March 2004) with its stretchy outer skin pulled over — not glued to — the outsole, as well as woven sneaker models the company made a few years back.

But Malloch said Considered shoes score exponentially higher on Nike’s own internal sustainability score sheet than any shoes the company has made previously. The score is due in part to the shoes’ radical design. Designers stripped the materials list from around 25 to approximately five, and they incorporated hand-weaving and stitching rather than glue.

After learning Considered shoes would be manufactured in Thailand, designers also attempted to source all of the materials from a 200-mile radius. Most but not all materials ended up meeting the criteria.

“It is a tough parameter,” Malloch said. “In typical production, designers pretty much start out using anything they want from all over the globe. This team probably didn’t accomplish all they wanted from that first design brief.” They’ll have another chance, however, as the next generation of Considered is already on the drawing board, according to Malloch. Whether consumers love the line or not is important, he said, but the Considered approach will carry forward even if the line doesn’t.

“Aesthetics come and go,” he said. “Future generations [of Considered] may look very different and even more conventional, but the approach of using no solvents in production is still going to be there.”

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