Adidas Pushes Innovation for Sustainable Sportswear

Adidas, one of the world’s largest sportswear companies, is committed to making significant strides in sustainability as it works towards its ambitious 2025 goals.

With a clear focus on sustainability, Adidas aims to hit key targets, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transforming how it produces sportswear.

In its 75th year, Adidas remains dedicated to its long-term goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

As part of this journey, the company has set “stretch targets” for 2025, which are milestones designed to ensure meaningful progress along the way.

One of these targets is to make 90% of Adidas’s products sustainable by 2025, using environmentally preferred materials. CEO Bjørn Gulden emphasises, “Our company has set very clear targets on what we want to achieve and we will do exactly that.”

Since the 1990s, Adidas has led the charge, introducing eco-friendly products and being the first in the industry to release a sustainability report.

The company's current sustainability plan, outlined in 2021, focuses on innovations in materials, energy use and design to significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Adidas continues to be a founding member of initiatives like Better Cotton and the Leather Working Group, ensuring its commitment to ethical sourcing and manufacturing.

Innovating with recycled, remade and regenerative loops

Adidas’s approach to sustainable product creation centres around three loops: recycled, remade and regenerative.

These loops guide how the company repurposes materials and minimises waste. For example, Adidas defines a product as sustainable if it contains at least 70% environmentally preferred materials for apparel, 50% for accessories and 20% for footwear.

By the end of 2022, seven out of ten Adidas products already met these criteria, putting the brand on track to achieve its 2025 target.

As Katja Schreiber, Senior Vice-President of Sustainability, explains, “We’re looking into different ways of manufacturing our products, different ways of dyeing our materials and different ways of using materials to really bring innovative products to life and make them more sustainable.”

One of Adidas’s most well-known sustainability initiatives is its focus on reducing plastic waste.

Since 2015, the brand has partnered with Parley for the Oceans to create products like the FUTURECRAFT.LOOP, a 100% recyclable running shoe.

Adidas also produced 11 million pairs of shoes in 2019 that were made from recycled ocean plastics, a testament to the company’s dedication to repurposing waste materials.

Responsible sourcing and circular innovation

Adidas’s commitment to responsible sourcing is evident in its efforts to use more sustainable materials. The company sources 96.2% of its cotton from either certified organic or Better Cotton Initiative sources, while 99.9% of its leather is third-party certified.

Adidas also prioritises sourcing fibre from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, ensuring that the company limits its reliance on virgin forest fibre.

In addition, Adidas has pledged support for Canopy’s CanopyStyle and Pack4Good initiatives, which work to eliminate fibre sourced from endangered forests while promoting low-carbon and circular alternatives.

“Adidas is committed to continued high-quality performance of our products whilst delivering meaningful and lasting ecological change for the planet,” says Viviane Gut, Senior Director of Sustainability.

Another exciting development in Adidas’s sustainability journey is its work with innovative materials. The company has partnered with cutting-edge companies like Pond, Infinited Fiber and Spinnova to explore new regenerative materials for future products.

Adidas has already made strides with its Stan Smith Mylo shoe, created using a 100% animal-free material derived from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.

Adidas tackles Scope 3 emissions with innovative strategies

Adidas’s sustainability efforts extend beyond its direct operations, with a clear focus on reducing Scope 3 emissions across its entire value chain: 

Purchased goods and services (Category 1): Adidas is significantly reducing its emissions from raw materials and manufacturing by focusing on sustainable sourcing. The company is using more recycled materials, like polyester and embracing innovative bio-based materials, such as those used in the FUTURECRAFT.LOOP running shoe.

Organic cotton and other environmentally preferred materials also play a key role in minimising the environmental impact of the products Adidas creates.

Use of sold products and end-of-life treatment (Category 11 & 12): Adidas is also addressing emissions linked to the usage and disposal of its products. By creating more durable, recyclable items like the FUTURECRAFT.LOOP, Adidas reduces waste while extending product lifespans.

This innovation ties directly into the company’s “Choose to Give Back” resale programme, which encourages customers to send back used items to be resold or recycled, further reducing waste and emissions tied to the end-of-life phase of products.

Upstream transportation and processing of sold products (Category 4 & 10): Adidas is also working to optimise transportation and reduce emissions from product processing. The company is making strides in using cleaner energy at its supplier facilities and promoting low-carbon design.

These efforts help reduce emissions from the manufacturing process and upstream logistics, contributing to the overall goal of lowering Scope 3 emissions across its supply chain.

By focusing on these critical areas, Adidas aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions per product by 15% by 2025 and achieve climate neutrality across its entire value chain by 2050. Through its continued innovations and partnerships, Adidas is proving that sustainability can be embedded in every stage of production and consumption.

Leading the way in sustainable sportswear

Adidas continues to push boundaries in sustainable sportswear, with its outdoor brand, Adidas TERREX, leading the charge in technical material innovation. The TERREX HS line, for example, uses advanced materials designed to perform in extreme conditions, all while maintaining a strong commitment to the environment.

Adidas also encourages consumers to embrace sustainability through its "Choose to Give Back" programme. Launched in 2021, this resale initiative allows customers in the United States to return used shoes, clothes and accessories from any brand in any condition. The company then resells or recycles these items through its partner, thredUp, further promoting a circular economy.

In an era where consumers are increasingly aware of their environmental impact, Adidas remains at the forefront of change. With its focus on sustainability, innovation and ethical sourcing, the sportswear giant is setting new standards in the industry and proving that it’s possible to create high-performance products with minimal impact on the planet.

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