PUMA has announced the results of a two-year RE:SUEDE experiment and has shown that they were able to successfully compost the classic SUEDE sneaker.

In 2021, PUMA made 500 pairs of RE:SUEDE using zeology-tanned suede, a TPE outsole and hemp fibers. The Re:suedes were used in everyday life by selected wearers in Germany for half a year to test the comfort and durability of the shoes before PUMA sent them to a specially equipped industrial composting plant operated by its partner Ortessa Group in the Netherlands.

In order to turn the shoes into compost, a special process had to be developed. First, they were crushed and mixed with other household waste and placed in a composting tunnel. They were then sprayed with nutrient-rich seepage water from previous composting and heated naturally through biological activity and controlled air circulation in the tunnel.

After about 3.5 months, the materials, which were small enough (<10 mm) to fall through a sieve, were sold as grade A compost for agricultural use (within Dutch standards), while the remaining materials were returned to the composting tunnel until they too had reached the desired degree of shredding (<10 mm). During this process, the Ortessa Group complied with all legal requirements for compost that apply to its plants in the Netherlands.

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“Although RE:SUEDE could not be processed using standard industrial composting processes, the shoes eventually turned into compost,” said Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA. “We will continue to innovate with our partners to determine the infrastructure and technologies necessary to make the process feasible for a commercial version of RE:SUEDE, including a take-back system, in 2024.”

Transparency is another important pillar of the re:suede experiment, as PUMA will publish its findings in a detailed report so that other interested stakeholders can learn from the experiment and apply the findings to their own initiatives.

“During the re:suede experiment, we learned how to optimize our industrial composting process to include objects that take longer to become compost,” said Marthien van Eersel, Materials & Innovations Manager at Ortessa. “While all RE:SUEDE materials can decompose, the RE:SUEDE sole required more preprocessing and additional time in the composting tunnel to completely dissolve.”

Based on feedback from people who wore RE:SUEDE for half a year, PUMA will improve the comfort of future versions of the shoe by using new materials for the upper material and insole.

Together with the novel polyester recycling program RE:FIBRE, the RE:SUEDE experiment was the first program to be launched as part of PUMA's “Circular Lab”. Circular Lab is an innovation center led by PUMA's design experts that aims to shape the future of the company's circular economy programs.

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Photos via Puma