Fashion, Adidas and the circular economy
World in Motion – Global equities blog

Fashion, Adidas and the circular economy

Adidas has been a core holding since the inception of the Threadneedle Global Sustainable Equity strategy. Its production and promotion of technical sports performance products contributes positively to our social theme of “Good Health and Wellbeing”. But if we own a textile company, we also want its products to not have a detrimental impact on the environment. Sustainability is front and centre of Adidas’s agenda. Its target is to have nine out of 10 of its articles environmentally sustainable by 2025 using a “Three-loop” strategy1:
  1. Recycled loop Sourcing recycled raw materials from outside of its own products, namely 100% recycled polyester or Parley ocean plastic waste (upcycled plastic waste collected on shorelines and coastal areas).
  2. Circular loop Producing products that can then be recycled and remade into new Adidas products – “made to be remade”. It has launched an Ultraboost trainer that can be returned, recycled and subsequently remade into a new pair, with the aim to expand this concept to more franchises and categories overtime.
  3. Regenerative loop Where products cannot fit into the above categories, Adidas aims to make these products from natural materials that can biodegrade.

Management has set a target for 100% of its products to use only recycled polyester by 2024 aided by the introduction of its sustainable fabrics. All of which sounds positive, but we wanted to see first-hand how sustainability was embedded into the company’s marketing and products on the shop floor. To find out about how our visit to the Adidas flagship store went, and for a more detailed exploration of the fashion industry and its carbon footprint, click here: Fashion eyes sustainability via the circular economy

2 July 2021
Pauline Grange
Pauline Grange
Portfolio Manager, Global Equities
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1 Unless stated elsewhere, all facts and figures regarding Adidas are from this document: https://news.adidas.com/running/adidas-aims-to-end-plastic-waste-with-innovation—partnerships-as-the-solutions/s/be70ac18-1fc9-45c1-9413-d8abaac2e849

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