Most of us think about microplastics in terms of water bottles, food packaging or synthetic clothes. Our shoes rarely come up. Yet the average sneaker is one of the most plastic-heavy things we own, and it sheds a little of itself with every step.
This article covers where the plastic in footwear hides, why it matters, and what to look for if you want shoes with less of it.
Why your sneakers are a hidden source of microplastics
Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than 5 mm. Some are made that small on purpose, but most come from larger plastic items breaking down through wear, friction, washing and sunlight.
Shoes face all of these. Every time you walk, run or scuff your feet, your shoes wear down a little. When they’re made mostly from synthetic materials, that wear ends up as tiny plastic particles on pavements, in drains and eventually in rivers and soil.
Where the plastic hides in a typical shoe
1. The upper
Most modern sneakers use polyester, nylon or other synthetic knits and meshes. They’re cheap, light and easy to mould, but they’re plastic. Like synthetic clothing, they shed fibres as they flex, rub and get washed.
2. The sole
Midsoles are often EVA or other synthetic foams, and outsoles are often synthetic rubber. The sole is the part of the shoe in constant contact with the ground, so it’s where most of the abrasion happens.
3. Waterproofing treatments
Many water-repellent shoes rely on PFC or PFAS-based coatings, the so-called “forever chemicals”. They don’t break down easily and have raised growing health and environmental concerns.
4. Packaging
Plastic bags around each shoe, plastic tissue, plastic tags and plastic mailers. Before you even open the box, a new pair can come with a surprising amount of single-use plastic.
What to look for in a lower-plastic shoe
There’s no perfect, 100% plastic-free performance sneaker yet. But some choices make a real difference:
Natural fibre uppers: materials like hemp, organic cotton or wool shed natural fibres instead of plastic ones. Hemp is especially durable, so the shoe lasts longer.
Natural or recycled rubber: natural rubber avoids fully synthetic compounds, and recycled rubber gives an existing material a second life, so less new rubber has to be produced.
PFAS-free waterproofing: wax-based treatments can keep your feet dry without forever chemicals.
Plastic-free packaging: recycled, recyclable cardboard with no plastic inserts.
Durability: a shoe that lasts twice as long means half as many shoes made, shipped and thrown away.
How we approach this at 8000Kicks
When we started 8000Kicks, the goal was simple: make a shoe built around plants, not plastic.
Hemp uppers. Our shoes are made from hemp fabric, one of the strongest and most resilient natural fibres. (If you’re curious, we explain how hemp fabric is actually made, from plant to shoe.)
Recycled rubber soles. Our soles are made from recycled rubber, which reuses existing material instead of producing new rubber from scratch.
Wax waterproofing, no PFAS. Our shoes are waterproof thanks to a wax coating, with no PFC or PFAS treatments.
Plastic-free packaging. Every pair ships in recycled, recyclable cardboard.
We also want to be transparent about where we still have work to do. Recycled rubber is a better choice than new synthetic soles, but it isn’t a perfect material: like any sole, it wears down with use, and recycled rubber can include synthetic content from its previous life. So our shoes aren’t 100% plastic-free yet. We’d rather be clear about that than claim perfection. We keep working on it, one material at a time.
This is also why our uppers are made from hemp rather than recycled plastic, a route some sustainable brands take. Recycled plastic is better than virgin plastic, but a recycled polyester upper still sheds plastic fibres every time it flexes. We look at this in more detail in our guide to Rothy’s alternatives and what to look for in a sustainable shoe.
Want to go further? Meet I’m Plastic Free
Choosing better shoes is one step. If you want to cut plastic and microplastic exposure across the rest of your life, one of the best resources we know is I’m Plastic Free.
I’m Plastic Free is a social enterprise on a mission to “turn off the plastic tap”. They help people find genuinely plastic-free and non-toxic products and teach them about microplastic exposure. On their site you’ll find:
A platform of plastic-free brands across apparel, home, food, pets and more
Free checklists and quizzes to understand your own microplastic exposure
A resource of 200 blog articles on microplastics and health, plastic-free living and slow fashion, available here
An upcoming affiliate shop featuring products with links to brands’ websites
They also commit 50% of all profits to tackling plastic and microplastic pollution.
We’re proud that 8000Kicks has been featured in I’m Plastic Free’s non-toxic gift guide and in their platform of plastic-free brands. If you’re looking for more brands that share these values, it’s a great place to start.
The bottom line
Shoes are an easy thing to overlook in a low-plastic lifestyle, but they wear down with every step. Choosing natural fibres, natural or recycled rubber, PFAS-free treatments and plastic-free packaging, and wearing your shoes for longer, keeps a lot of plastic out of the world.
If you’re ready to try a shoe built around hemp instead of plastic, take a look at our wide toe box hemp shoes: waterproof, PFAS-free, and made to let your feet move naturally.