Methods - Circular Sneakers | 2024

Location: Felgueiras, Portugal
Designers: Circular Footwear, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Design Team: Véronique Pustjens-Baer, Anna-Lara Sigron, and Nicole Lots
Manufacturer: Claudifel-Indústria de Calçado, Lda., Felgueiras, Braga, Portugal
Photographers: Eric Weterings

Revolutionize Your Step with Methods The Circular, Customizable, Conscious Sneaker!

We’ve all been there: heartbroken at having to ditch a beloved pair of kicks because they’re worn out or enviously eyeing someone else’s fresh colorway.

At Methods, we’ve engineered a solution that enables you to evolve your sneakers again and again, in a sustainable way. Our disassemblable sneakers transform to match your changing styles and needs. You can swap soles, change colors, and keep them feeling fresh for years. Made of just 5 recyclable or biodegradable components in Portugal, each part can be individually recycled into new, high-quality materials after use.

Your Methods sneakers will truly be lifelong companions: customizable, repairable, and never destined for the landfill. Cutting-edge innovation meets circular design.

Special Features of the Design

Modular Construction: The sneaker is made of 5 interchangeable components, allowing easy assembly, disassembly, and the replacement of their parts.

Aesthetics: Unlike modular avant-garde designs, our sneaker maintains a mainstream, commercial look, which makes it accessible to a broad audience.

Sole: The injection-molded sole is the iconic part that remains consistent in the collection for years.

Upper: The upper is crafted through a knitting process, allowing for easy adjustments to fit different seasons and trends. It prioritizes comfort and skin-friendliness.

Wrap: The wrap is the key component that connects the other parts. Its design is prominent to showcase the circularity of the shoe, but can be easily adapted for future collections thanks to the flexibility of the laser-cut production process.

Usability: No glue or sewing is needed, making repairs and assembly simple for consumers, without the need for specialized tools.

Sustainability Communication: The design promotes sustainability by enabling users to extend the product’s lifecycle, replacing parts as needed, thus reducing waste.

Aspects of Innovation

Material Innovation: Use of 5 recyclable or biodegradable materials ensures that the sneakers are both eco-friendly and easy to recycle.

Sole: Consists of 100% recycled TPU (pre-consumer). Can be reinjected into new soles after use (about 30% post-consumer material).

Upper: 95%Tencel, 3% Polyamide, 2% Elastan.

Wrap: Vegetable tanned, biodegradable leather, made in Portugal.

Insole: Made from Portuguese cork and foam. Our supplier is operating a closed-loop system, shredding old insoles and reusing the material in their production process.

Laces: Tencel.

Process Innovation: The modular design allows for significantly reduced labor requirements.

Business Innovation: Offering consumers the option to order spare parts for their shoes strengthens their connection with our brand and creates more opportunities for engagement. A take-back program further enhances circularity.

Sustainability

Reducing Waste: Through repair and recycling, the resources used for the sneaker are preserved rather than wasted. Additionally, we minimize waste in production by using low-waste techniques such as injection molding and knitting.

Local Production: Our production does not involve gluing or sewing, with only a few steps needed to produce the shoe, which reduces labor and makes production in Portugal feasible.

Smaller Production/Less Waste: The modular system allows for more model variations with fewer parts, reducing stock, production, and waste.

Sustainable Materials: We use eco-friendly materials such as Tencel, 100% recycled TPU and cork.