Source: Cirql | OrthoLite
President-elect Trump’s tariffs could prevent the adoption of a midsole material that would revolutionize the sneaker industry. Cirql by Ortholite Vietnam is:
A Vietnam-based innovation company focused on developing scalable, less impactful, finished midsole components and material solutions for footwear brands, has just unveiled Cirql Zero™ – a new industrially compostable, biodegradable foam innovation.
Cirql Zero represents a ground-breaking component and material solution for footwear brands using a proprietary polymer compound and made via supercritical foaming with inert gases. Cirql Zero offers a lightweight, comfortable, and resilient midsole solution that can be customized for multiple footwear categories, from athletic to luxury.
A patent-pending innovation, Cirql Zero can be ‘tuned’ to meet the design specs required by footwear brands. At the end of the product’s life, Cirql Zero exceeds the industrial compostability testing standard of 90% degradation in 180 days. It will be fully compostable in industrial composting.
There is an American alternative for midsoles in Tunera from NFW, but at this point NFW is currently on furlough as the team goes through the process of an additional funding round. The slow adoption of NFW’s plant-based materials shows how the manufacturing process for sneaker brands isn’t ready to change in a substantial manner although their materials offer an end-of-life solution for the massive number of sneakers brought to market.
A slowness to integrate Tunera and Pliant into the supply chain of companies like Nike, adidas and Under Armour, could be due to NFW’s ability to scale but is probably more rooted in the costs for brands to implement these new materials with an U.S. based manufacturer.
An additional issue could be that there haven’t been true performance models crafted at scale/brought to market from NFW materials. Cirql is touting that it’s “midsole foam can be produced using supercritical foaming (SCF) technology in an autoclave process.” This means the foams being featured in the fast-growing running segment could “be fully compostable in industrial composting.”
Add in the fact that Vietnam has been a major beneficiary of a reduction in the amount of footwear being made in China and it appears that Cirql could be just the thing to finally move an industry stuck in plastics… That’s if the incoming administration attempts to place tariffs indiscriminately.
Cirql™ just won the ISPO BrandNew Award in the sustainability category for its latest innovation that debuted earlier this week, Cirql Zero™ – an industrially compostable, biodegradable foam for footwear midsoles.