Athletic Retailer Nike Reveals First Sustainable Basketball Sneaker

Nike’s first sustainable basketball sneaker has been revealed this week.
Yahoo Finance’s Reggie Wade joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the sneaker and what it means for retailers.

Yahoo’s Adam Shapiro sat down to speak with Reggie Wade to explain Nike’s new sustainable basketball shoe the Cosmic Unity.

Showing off the sneakers, Wade said, “These are the new Nike Cosmic Unities, the first sustainable basketball shoe for Nike. So we have the box here. Let’s get to these, because this is really exciting. Nike has really started to push the boundaries when it comes to sustainable. But one thing people were saying, what about basketball shoes? Can we make basketball sneakers sustainable and also useful? And the question is, yes.”

Wade said he had spoke to Nike lead designer, Ross Klein, who was the designer on the project. Klein had told Wade that the upper features a cabling technology that is supposed to mimic cosmic frequency.

“So you have that design right up here. And the midsole uses what Nike calls its Crater Foam. It’s made from a blend of standard proprietary foams and 10% Nike Grind rubber. And that provides increased support and responsiveness,” said Wade.
He added, “They actually stitched an Air Zoom Strobel unit to the bottom of these shoes. And they’re supposed to provide more energy return. And this shoe actually features rubber from the floors of Nike factories. One thing Nike’s doing to be sustainable, they’re taking scraps from the factories and they’re putting it right back into their new shoes.”

Seana Smith asked Wade if Nike would be doing this for other sports as well.

” I think so. I think they’re saying, let’s see where we are with basketball. And the reviews on the shoe are great. I spoke with WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces. She wears this model, and she says it’s outstanding. She talked about how important it is for athletes to be conscious of what they put in their body, but also what they put on their body. So she loves how this is sustainable.”

He continued, “Lakers star Anthony Davis actually debuted this on Saturday in a game against the Celtics. So it’s really great to see that some of the bigger names are starting to look at sustainability. And maybe some of the other shoe companies will start to follow suit.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.