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Nike’s latest sneakers are rubbish (and why that’s a good thing)
“Space Hippie” is Nike’s latest innovative footwear collection inspired by life on Mars—where materials are scarce and there is no resupply mission.
Space Hippie: sustainable sneakers made from waste
Nike say their latest offering, Space Hippie, is an exploratory footwear collection inspired by the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) method employed in space travel—where materials are scarce and there is no resupply mission. ISRU suggests that the further humans go into space, the more important it will be for them to use local materials to generate their own products. Created from scraps, or “space junk,” the sporting goods giant say Space Hippie is the result of sustainable practices meeting radical design.
![The upper part of Space Hippie, which resembles Nike's Flyknit design, is knitted from what Nike calls](https://www.brightvibes.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/phpqqwKwZ.jpeg)
Every aspect of the Space Hippie line was chosen with sustainability in mind
Sports goods manufacturers Nike have launched a new, exploratory collection named Space Hippie to highlight the NASA-inspired concept of in-situ resource utilisation — the idea of using space-based resources during deep space exploration. By taking the company’s own “space junk” from the floors of its manufacturing warehouses, Nike is turning waste into feedstock, creating a sustainable sneaker that combines high performance with low impact.
The Space Hippie shoes are assembled using recycled “space junk”, such as recycled plastic water bottles, T-shirts and yarn scraps. According to Nike, every aspect of the Space Hippie line was chosen with sustainability in mind, from the material to the production methods to the packaging. The new shoes boast the lowest carbon footprint score compared to the company’s other products.
Source: Inhabitat
![](https://www.brightvibes.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/phpMcTVMT.jpeg)
Space Hippie attacks the villain of trash
Nike used factory scraps and recycled "space waste yarn" to create the Space Hippie sneakers in an experimental project to reduce the carbon impact of its products.
Each of the four different designs in the collection – named Space Hippie 01, 02, 03 and 04 – are made from scrap material taken from Nike’s factory floors, which the brand has named "space junk", and other recycled materials.
The brand said that the result "is the creation of Nike footwear with our lowest carbon footprint scores ever".
"It is about figuring out how to make the most with the least material, the least energy and the least carbon," John Hoke, Nike’s chief design officer, told Dezeen. "I’d say Space Hippie attacks the villain of trash."
"It’s changed the way we look at materials, it’s changed the way that we look at the aesthetics of our product," he added. "It’s changed how we approach putting product together."
Nike designer Noah Murphy-Reinhertz added "There’s this idea in space exploration that if you’re going to fly to the moon or fly to Mars and stay there and do something, you have to create things with what you find there,"
"They say there’s no resupply mission coming to Mars – there’s no resupply mission coming to earth either."
Source: Dezeen
![The middle, cushioning part of the trainer is made from surplus ZoomX foam taken from the production of the Nike Vaporfly 4% Flyknit running shoe. According to Nike, it repurposes this lightweight foam in a manner that uses around half the carbon dioxide equivalent as the creation of typical Nike foams.](https://www.brightvibes.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/phpxAN1zw.jpeg)
![The outsole part of each shoe in the Space Hippie collection is built from](https://www.brightvibes.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/phpKxFLMJ.jpeg)
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