Sneaknit: the recycled paper yarn that combines functionality and sustainability
The company from the Marche region, founded in 2019, focuses on sustainability as a driver of innovation.
Keep reading...Cirql™, an innovative Vietnam-based company focused on the development of environmentally friendly midsole components and materials, presented at the Ispo trade fair in Munich in December Cirql Zero™, a new biodegradable and industrially compostable foam that will be available to footwear brands from early 2025.
This innovative material won the prestigious ISPO BrandNew Award in the sustainability category, the prize recognised for innovative and creative new brands in the sports and outdoor industry whose products demonstrate their ability to push the boundaries of their sectors by introducing new materials, technologies and sustainable practices.
“Footwear brands have been searching for a trusted, fully biodegradable midsole material for many years; it’s the last piece of the puzzle,” explains Matt Thwaites, Vice President and General Manager of Cirql. “The midsole has always been a challenge because brands need the performance properties to go with the compostability of a biodegradable midsole. After a diligent development and testing process, we can now provide a price-competitive, scalable, industrially compostable and biodegradable midsole component and material solution to our global footwear brand customers”.
With its products, Cirql™ thus offers footwear brands complete solutions that address both the production and end-of-life phases of footwear materials, emphasising biodegradability, recyclability, production adaptability and scalability. At the end of the product life cycle, Cirql Zero exceeds the industrial compostability standard of 90% degradation in 180 days. It will be fully compostable in industrial composting. A distinctive feature of Cirql Zero is also its production versatility. This midsole foam can be produced using supercritical foam technology (SCF) in an autoclave process. This flexibility makes Cirql Zero accessible to a wide range of manufacturers, simplifying its integration into existing production processes and paving the way for rapid adoption in the global footwear industry.
