Adidas’ recycled Stan Smith sneaker gets sleeker, vibrant, and more colorful

As a leader in the sneaker industry for sustainability, Adidas has remixed one of its most popular silhouettes with a more ethical production process. In a bid to reduce plastic waste, the brand debuted three new iterations of its Stan Smith sneaker made with recycled materials. The capsule, dubbed “Stan Smith, Forever,” showcases the classic silhouette while decorating it with different environmental graphics.

Adidas is just as renowned for its stylish shoes as its sustainable ones. For 20 years, the sportswear giant has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as a leader in the environmental space, thanks to a slew of eco-conscious streetwear designs. Last December, Adidas dropped an entirely sustainable collection with supermodel Karlie Kloss, and most recently dropped an eco-friendly capsule in collaboration with Stella McCartney and activists around the globe. While the Stan Smith sneaker is the latest sustainable effort by Adidas, it certainly won’t be the last.

A clean classic — For the Stan Smith, Forever capsule, the brand has released three eco-conscious Stan Smiths, all maintaining the shoe’s familiar silhouette but with added graphics. Despite varying designs, though, each shoe features a white upper made of PRIMEGREEN, a recycled performance fabric that contains no virgin plastic, and a white recycled rubber outsole.

The first Stan Smith is a women’s style, boasting Earth-inspired graphics like drawn-on flowers, globes, and arrows. It strays from the traditional shoe’s color scheme with an ivory tongue graphic and a white heel tab. If you’re looking for something closer to the original Stan Smith, though, the second sustainable iteration — a unisex style — sports its familiar green heel tab and white upper, remixed with embossed planet-inspired graphics. The style also comes dressed with gold eyelets for an added pop of color.

Rounding out the trio, the third sneaker looks like a compromise of the two prior designs. Boasting traditional green heel tabs and a white upper, the Stan Smith has been updated via floral and Earth-like embroidery throughout the shoe. Adidas branding has also been added to the shoe for further decoration.

Earth-entically yours — Bringing the sustainability focus full circle, each Stan Smith in the collection comes packaged in a classic Adidas Originals blue box, which has been refurbished with a makeup of more than 90 percent recycled paper.

The three new iterations in the Stan Smith, Forever capsule range from $85 to $110 — not a bad price for a more sustainable sneaker. And if you’re not feeling the added graphics, know you can cop an OG Stan Smith shoe too, now also made with recycled material.

For fans of Disney and the Muppets, Stan Smiths greener than them all range are up for grabs too. Featuring classic green characters like Kermit, Mike Wazowski, and the Hulk, each pair in the collaborative collection arrives with signature detailing unique to each character, including custom graphic outsoles, embossed accents, playful patterns, and lacing personalization options.

All styles are available now on Adidas’ website, and make a great spring and summer sneaker. Better yet, the eco-friendly Stan Smith leads the way for other popular silhouettes awaiting their makeover.