Bothell: Brooks launches "green" running shoe
Published 10:59 pm Thursday, July 24, 2008
BOTHELL — Brooks Sports Inc. has officially launched its first running shoe using a unique biodegradable midsole.
The midsole, which Bothell-based Brooks calls the BioMoGo, is designed to biodegrade 50 times faster than conventional athletic shoe midsoles. It is available for sale now in Brooks’ Trance 8 running shoe, which retails for $140.
BioMoGo midsoles include a nontoxic natural additive that increases the rate of biodegradation by encouraging microbes to break down nutrients into reusable byproducts. That helps to break it down in roughly 20 to 25 years, according to Brooks’ two years of research and tests. A traditional midsole made of vinyl acetate can last up to 1,000 years in a landfill.
The BioMoGo materials will begin to break down only when the shoes are thrown into the environment of an enclosed landfill.
Brooks also has said it will treat its BioMoGo technology as an “open source” innovation, meaning the company will share it with other footwear manufacturers and interested industries.
“Environmental stewardship is an important business pillar for Brooks, and we’re committed to creating products that help preserve and, whenever possible, enhance the environment,” Jim Weber, Brooks’ president and chief executive, said in the launch announcement for the Trance 8. “Sharing BioMoGo presents a chance for greater environmental impact beyond Brooks and supports the spirit with which it was created.”
While the new midsole is available right now in just one Brooks model, all of the company’s running shoes will include the midsole by the end of 2009.
