Dandelion rubber is excellent for more than just tyres. The revolutionary renewably sourced rubber is being used in sustainable footwear. Cole Haan, an American shoe company, has unveiled its new Generation Zerogrand casual shoe line, which features dandelion rubber.
The New Hampshire-based company, which promotes its Change Forward initiative in its branding, used a patent-pending technology to transform dandelions into rubber, which was then combined into its EVA foam midsole.
The footwear has a lightweight, 360? engineered FlowerFoam outsole made up of at least 25% natural dandelion rubber to allow for natural mobility.
The commercially available shoes are lightweight, with an upper design that includes vegan microfiber suede created with 21% recycled material, reconstituted felt fabric manufactured with 85% recycled PET (rPET) bottles, and laces made with 100% rPET.