Interview with Romain Girard, VP Innovation at Puma

RE:SUEDE was a first important step in shaping a circular future for Puma and their customers. Puma has been working on the fashion industry’s waste problem for some time. In fact, in 2012, the brand launched InCycle: a closed-loop collection which included a shoe which was designed for composting.  

Unfortunately, the infrastructure wasn’t quite there, and neither was the demand, so it never took off. In the years since InCycle, Puma’s innovation department worked hard to address the technological limitations of previous collections and apply the learnings to the RE:SUEDE experiment.  

It was during this time the team noticed a positive shift in consumer behaviour. Conversations around circularity were gaining momentum, and consumer desires for better fashion choices were growing.  

In 2021, PUMA’s Circular Lab launched – a platform to speak out and learn about circularity together with customers. The platform provided a perfect opportunity for the RE:SUEDE experiment to develop.   

Leather Naturally caught up with Romain to explore the RE:SUEDE journey,, the highs and lows and the importance of taking the first experimental steps in developing a sustainable future for footwear.  

Romain, you have been in sports footwear design and innovation for over 20 years. What inspires you about the experimental journey you are currently undertaking? 

Ultimately, I am driven by performance, supporting and elevating athletes to create history. And my ambition is about always striving to do things better.  

I began to understand that if the industry continued to make footwear in the way we were – to create the best footwear at any cost – that’s never going to end up well. We all became more engaged with planet impact. And we became committed to doing bigger things more sustainably. But the bottom line was that we were always facing challengingly high costs. 

Why did biodegradability become the right direction for Puma? 

There is not one solution to make a better product for the planet. We see multiple tracks. We wanted to work with partners that are very good at reducing the impact of materials that make our products. 

We also had to embrace the journey of learnings that Puma had already undertaken and that’s when this project began to take off again.  

Whilst developing the shoe, we began the search for an industrial composting partner who shared our vision for the experiment. We reached back to our Leather supplier, Ortessa, and recognised they still believed in our mission. Based in the Netherlands, Ortessa is a family business that takes a different approach to waste: they see it as an opportunity to innovate. For RE:SUEDE, we worked  with Ortessa’s Valor Composting Facility, the first in the world to use tunnel composting to process organic waste. Each year, the Valor Composting Facility generates 47,000 tons of Grade A² compost from vegetable, garden and fruit waste. Our ambition was to get to this output with the RE:SUEDE.  

How do you build a compostable shoe? 

Knowing the demand was there, our first real challenge was to make a shoe that people would want to wear. Stylish and comfortable: no compromises. What better candidate for a future-facing update than our original footwear legend, the Suede. The Suede hit the scene in 1968 and has been changing the game ever since.  

The RE:SUEDE reimagines this icon, from the upper to the sole, lining and laces: every element has been designed with the goal to decompose it. The RE:SUEDE materials were carefully chosen for their comfort and potential to decompose.  

The padding, sockliner filler and laces are made of Hemp (bast fibre). Lining and sockliner cover comprise of 55% Hemp and 45% Cotton. The upper is made with Zeology Suede – a material that is made using an improved tanning process and that ensures better comfort for the wearer. 

412 pairs of worn RE:SUEDEs were returned to PUMA from the consumer test. These shoes were sent to Valor Composting. There, the shoes went through an industrial composting process. The RE:SUEDEs were shredded and mixed with other green household waste and placed into a composting tunnel. They were then sprayed with leaching-water from earlier composting that contains nutrients and naturally heated due to the biological activity and controlled air circulation in the tunnel. Every 10-14 days, depending on processing parameters, the contents of the tunnel were sieved to see how small the pieces of RE:SUEDE had become. According to our partner Ortessa: 

Ortessa found, from the 1st to 4th run, that there were remaining granules over 40mm in size. After the 5th run (approximately 2.5 months), the majority of the RE:SUEDEs had broken into pieces small enough for compost (<10mm) or compost starter mix (10-40mm). The results were re-confirmed in the 6th and 7th run (approximately 3.5 months). The compost (<10mm) measuring from the process was tested and confirmed as Grade A compost under the Netherland standard applicable to Ortessa.  

The certified compost (<10mm) has been sold on and is somewhere in the Dutch landscape right now. Meanwhile, pieces in 10-40mm size, mainly parts of the soles, became the compost starter mix and remained in the composting process until the parts further decompose <10mm size. According to Ortessa, the sole material showed clear evidence of bacterial decomposition, but needed more time to decompose in the composting facilities. The compost starter mix, containing the sole materials, remained in the tunnel, Ortessa estimated that it turned into compost (<10mm) within approximately 6 months. 

What happens next? 

We will continue working closely with our customers to build on insights so far. But there is still a duality between the desire for sustainability and a desire for low prices.  

We need to find a better balance between the technology, the supply chain, in fact the whole infrastructure needed to create biodegradable footwear. 

We will take the learnings from this RE: SUEDE pilot project and assess how we can scale up this approach to circularity in the future. Imagining a circular future takes determination and courage.  

We are here to just do more than just selling price points and shoes. We have a bigger mission and that we will continue. 

Find out more about the Puma RE: SUEDE project here.