Balena launches 100% biodegradable plastic footwear

Balena, the material science company aiming at transforming the fashion industry, have launched its eco-chic BioCir Slides, made of its proprietary, 100% biodegradable plastic, in order to help the fashion industry reduce unsustainable levels of plastic waste and jump-start the use of biodegradable plastic in shoes and other clothing.

The first fully moldable, biodegradable elastomer from Balena, BioCir™, offers a practical substitute for the polluting plastics that fashion brands now use for their apparel and footwear.

Balena has unveiled its 100% biodegradable slides for men and women, created and constructed in Italy exclusively of BioCir, by dropping the first thousand pairs in the company’s home city of Tel Aviv in order to highlight the amazing possibilities of this special technology. Fans of design and comfort are already wearing these BioCir Slides across the city, putting their feet first toward a greener future. They are colored and scented with natural cinnamon.

Balena recently introduced a fully circular system – BioCycling™ – that enables the disposal and complete biodegradation of their BioCir slides in a composting environment for industrial use. Customers can return the slides to designated take-back locations located throughout the city after they have finished using them so that they can be collected and taken to a nearby industrial compost facility for complete biodegradation instead of throwing them in the trash on their way to a landfill. This model, intended to lessen the impact of fashion on plastic waste, is replicable everywhere.

An estimated 92 million tons of textile waste are produced annually worldwide, and only 12% of the material used to make garments gets recycled as a result of the fast fashion addiction that has gripped the entire world. Balena is on a mission to change this by developing a fully circular business that leverages composting’s ability to reduce fashion’s environmental impact.

Balena’s exclusive BioCir™ 100% compostable plastic is strong, flexible, soft, and smooth, making it the ideal replacement for today’s polluting shoe materials while enabling manufacturers to create footwear that is exactly like their present goods in terms of appearance and feel. The biodegradable material may be utilized in 3D printing as well as standard injection molding techniques, giving you access to virtually endless manufacturing possibilities. It can be easily incorporated into custom manufacturing procedures and scaled out internationally, lowering a key barrier to entry for producers. Balena’s innovative slides provide the best proof-of-concept for the toughness, usefulness, and comfort of BioCir™.

David Roubach, Founder and CEO of Balena, said that one of the major pollutants in the world is the international fashion business. The company’s mission is to assist in the turnaround of this situation. They accomplish this by developing their own practical biodegradable plastic substitutes and fully circular systems that can be readily scaled up and replicated all around the world. They want to demonstrate to the world with their BioCir footwear that there is a viable alternative: Fashion can be stunning, useful, and environmentally beneficial. They take great pride in being the organization that allows any fashion firm to begin moving toward a more circular future.