New developments to be presented to professionals in the first quarter of 2025
Shoes with apple or pineapple peel? It has been done! A new generation of even more innovative products is about to hit the market. From olives to coffee grounds, rice or eggshells, olive or pine extracts to mussels or tomato paste, a new range of products from the BioShoes4All project is being finalised and is ready to launch on the market.
BioShoes4All involves 70 partners, including 20 research and development institutions and 50 companies, and a 62-million-euro investment to be completed by the end of 2025 under the PRR. “We have brought together companies representing all parts of the chain”, emphasises Maria José Ferreira, “all of which are focused on making a radical change in terms of the sustainability of materials, chemicals and production processes, as well as the business models and end products of footwear and leather goods”.
According to the project coordinator, “BioShoes4All is the largest project ever undertaken by the Portuguese footwear industry and the largest investment in research, development, innovation and capacity realised in a short period, made possible by the Recovery and Resilience Programme (PRR) and the Next Generation EU”.
Maria José Ferreira believes that “by the way it has been organised, the project has a relevant potential to transform the Portuguese footwear cluster with international impact”. Several new solutions have been developed and are expected to be launched as early as 2025, and will be presented to potential industry customers at upcoming international trade fairs.
She points out that “new products are created and refined on the basis of studies to measure and reduce their environmental and carbon footprint, and act in terms of the development and selection of materials and processes”. They are essentially “light, attractive products, but with few different materials to maximise their agile production and recycling. The materials and products include human or animal food by-products, such as rice, cereals, olive stones, chestnuts, mussel shells, vine pruning and algae, among others, which are used to reinforce or create new materials, insoles, reinforcements or soles. They valorise waste from the national agroforestry industry, such as extracts from pine, coffee, or olive bark for tanning leather. They recycle waste from the production of leather, components and footwear to make new leather, components, including uppers, counters, soles, and footwear”.
In addition, “the new footwear and leather goods products have a higher durability but a lower environmental footprint according to the European PEF method” and are also “repairable or recyclable/reusable”. Moreover, “production processes are redesigned, humanised and eco-efficient, minimising the use of chemicals, energy and production effluents and waste”.
It’s all about reuse
One of the main areas of intervention in the BioShoes4All project is recycling. “The project intervenes in all materials potentially used in footwear, promoting the creation of new molecules or formulas for the production of leather, adhesives, rubber, polyurethane or EVA, and manufacturing processes with a focus on global sustainability and closing the production cycle”, says Maria José Ferreira. “The motto is to be innovative, inclusive, efficient and ‘zero waste’. For this reason, the new generation of leathers, insoles and soles will be up to 100% organic, recycled or recyclable, and will have, among other things, superior flexibility, wear-resistance and anti-slip properties”.
In addition, investments will be made in cutting-edge technologies for the production of bio-coatings, bio-plastics or bio-rubber and bio-components. “The project contributes to the implementation in Europe of the first systems for the production of components and footwear in expanded and recyclable thermoplastic materials”, she concluded.