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Nike will take a big step forward in sustainability next month, as the ISPA Link Axis will arrive as the brand’s “first exploration into creating a fully circular shoe.”
Originally showcased in spring 2022, the ISPA Link Axis is a sneaker that can be taken apart completely (and easily) for recycling. Interlocking parts make up the forward-thinking shoe, which consists of just a sole unit, upper, and laces. Nike sought to use as little materials as possible and avoided the need for glue entirely by turning to a 100 percent recycled Flyknit upper that anchors itself around the pods of the sole unit. Traditionally, the need for adhesives has proven a major obstacle to recycling footwear.
Additional sustainable elements on the frontend of the sneaker’s life come from 100 percent recycled TPU tooling sourced from Nike Airbag scraps, 20 percent recycled TPU cages, and 10 percent recycled EVA sockliners. While Nike would love to achieve a fully closed-loop system, it hasn’t yet been able to turn to fully recycled materials because of the process of recycling can change material properties and compromise the need for durability and traction.
The ISPA Link, which Nike announced at the same time as the Link Axis and began releasing last year, is also fully recyclable but doesn’t use recycled materials to begin with. It also used a cut-and-sew method in attaching the upper to the sole unit.
“This shoe has reduced emissions quite considerably in the process, it takes eight minutes to make a shoe, there’s no heat tunnels, there’s no cooling tunnels, there’s no glue lines,” Darryl Matthews — Nike VP of product footwear design, catalyst — told Footwear News last year. “It’s our first steps in understanding how we can get to a circular process of recyclability in footwear product.”
ISPA is a division within Nike that produces some of brand’s most innovative (and often odd) designs. The name stands for improvise, scavenge, protect, and adapt.
As for the sensation of actually wearing the ISPA Link Access, Nike promises “responsiveness and the perfect amount of bounce” provided by a “blown” plastic midsole and Air cushioning. The shoe’s debut colorway — which adds Total Orange, Sonic Yellow, and black accents to a primarily white base with a semi-translucent sole — takes inspiration from the very first ISPA Link Access prototype made by Nike and now housed in a museum exhibit.
The Nike ISPA Link Axis will release at 10 a.m. EST Sept. 12 through the SNKRS app for a price of $300.
