The fashion industry and its supply chain are responsible for ten percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions every year, according to the World Economic Forum. And as footwear companies have taken account of their environmental footprints, brands are finding that a substantial portion of their greenhouse gas emissions come from the material they use (derived from carbon-intensive, toxic petrochemistry).
Founded by Jason Robinson, a pioneer in climate tech with over 20 years of experience in commercializing renewable technologies, Evoco is first and foremost an innovation company dedicated to unlocking the potential of plant-based chemistry to develop low-carbon, high-performance materials.
“The footwear industry has assessed its environmental impact and now understands that a major pathway to reduce it is to mitigate its reliance in petrochemistry,” said Robinson of Evoco’s significant impact on the footwear industry. “By putting plants at the center of its innovation platform to replace oil in developing high-performance materials, Evoco’s solutions are highly relevant to help brands through their defossilization journey, by offering solutions that decarbonize and detoxify their supply chains.”
In fact, Evoco’s plant-based foam technology, FATES is made of up to 85 percent bio-based content, with 100 percent of its bio-content certified plant-based. Using the bio-based foam in shoe componentry like insole or midsoles results in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70 percent compared to conventional oil-based polyurethane foam which has been widely used in footwear for its desirable properties, which include cushioning, shock-absorption, flexibility and customizable properties. Notably, the company conducts regular life cycle analysis to drive innovation and product development to continually minimize impact, looking at all impact categories not limited to greenhouse gas emissions.
Acknowledging the many benefits of the standard polyurethane foam options, Robinson tells Fairchild Studio that FATES competitively performs as well or better than these oil-based components. For consumers, this means a quality, sustainable product with enduring performance and minimized end-of-life impact due to its biodegradable properties and the removal of toxic elements in the production process, such as tin-based catalysts.
What sets Evoco apart, Robinson said, is the company’s vertical integration and ownership of its dedicated manufacturing operations to produce high-performance footwear componentry tailored to our partners’ requirements with further transparency on material impact.
And priced competitively in today’s market, Robinson said, Evoco’s solutions will continue to outperform alternatives. “Our materials technology are cost efficient and designed to scale.
Brands with strong environmental commitments who are executing against science-based targets understand the need to accelerate their adoption of biomaterials,” said Robinson. “Bio-based insoles are not just for ‘green limited editions’ or capsule collections. Evoco has already produced millions of pairs of insoles and designed its technology to deliver impact at scale for the footwear industry. Our solution enables brands to defossilize their supply chain today while delivering measurable environmental benefits for their end-consumers.”
Representing an exciting development, Evoco will launch its latest technology, the FATES Open Cell Sheetstock technology, in August 2023 at the Northwest Materials show in Portland. The material technology delivers a lightweight foam solution designed to replace die cut and compression-molded insole which are currently used in the assembly of billion pairs of shoes every year, representing the most standard component type in the footwear industry.
A solution for large-scale footwear applications, the technology introduces groundbreaking low-density polyurethane foam for insole applications and is specifically designed to be the simplest and most effective solution to integrate high bio-content componentry in footwear designs.
Looking ahead, Robinson told Fairchild Studio Evoco’s material science team will expand its plant-based chemistry platform and is working on hard plastic, adhesive and 3D printing solutions and has implemented projects in automotive, furniture and apparel.
“Evoco is committed to the footwear industry by introducing new componentry in the market,” said Robinson. “Beyond poured polyurethane insoles and midsoles, and now die-cut lightweight foam insoles, our innovation road map includes plant-based uppers, hard plastic and ultimately all core components to support brands on their journey to design high-performance, low-carbon product lines with minimal impact at end of life.”