Nike has created the Classic Cortez Flyleather, a sustainable footwear style that uses 50% natural leather fibers and fuses them into one material with synthetic leather fibers and fabric via a hydro process.
Nike’s goal when creating its innovative Flyleather material was to provide the look and feel of leather while at the same time reducing its carbon footprint (leather, from hides to final product, takes a lot of energy to make). The natural leather used in Flyleather comes from discarded scraps of cow hide collected on the floors of tanneries.
From a performance perspective, Flyleather has tested to be 40% lighter and five times more durable than traditional and full-grain leathers (based on abrasion testing), according to Nike, which opens the doors to a more elastic material.
“Similar to what Nike Flyknit did for knit, Nike Flyleather can do for leather,” said John Hoke, Nike Chief Design Officer, in a statement. “New technologies and platforms allow us to get closer to working at the molecular level. Flyleather is the latest example of this, and is particularly exciting because it allows for increased potential to extend our craft with more precision. This means opportunity for greater strength, support, elasticity and so on, based on the needs of specific sports.”
The Women’s Classic Cortez Flyleather is available now at Nike SNKRS for $90, a $15 premium over the basic Cortez. Sizes 5 to 12 are available.
For more check out the Air Jordan 1 Flyleather.
Source: Nike / Images courtesy of Nike
I personally can’t stand when companies charge a higher premium for the shoes that they make from recycled materials. I get that the process is probably more expensive, but it feels morally wrong and greedy to charge more for a product that is the same that is made with good intentions.