The circular economy in performance running requires crafting a shoe that can not only handle the rigors of dedicated use, but also get remade—think: recycled—to do it all again.
Asics has joined the fray, announcing the April 12 launch of the Nimbus Mirai—translated from Japanese as “future.”
The Asics Nimbus Mirai launches with a new returns program from the Japanese-based company, placing a focus on having runners send back shoes at the end of their use to support that move toward circularity and the company’s coal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the next 25 years.
Asics, which already released what it claims is the lightest carbon-emitting sneaker on the market with the Gel-Lyte III CM 1.95 in 2023, introduced the Nimbus Mirai with a new upper design created for recycling, an original glue ready making it easy to move into its next lifecycle and a midsole cushioning made with a quarter renewable sources that makes it easier to craft into a second life.
“Specifically, we aim to see recycled upper material from returned Nimbus Mirai shoes be utilized in future shoes,” Gentaro Makinoda, global innovations communications manager for Asics, tells me. “We know that as the entirety of the upper goes through the recycling process, 87.3% of the recycled material can be remade into the polyester material for future shoes.”
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The new uniform polyester has no overlays, different from the Gel-Nimbus 26, for example, Makinoda says, which features an engineered knit upper and combines different materials. Still, Asics expects the Mirai to feel like any other Nimbus silhouette.
“The Nimbus Mirai is going to have an almost mirror-like feel on foot compared to the current Gel-Nimbus 26 model,” Makinoda says. Both models use the same FF Blast Plus Eco foam and performance testing done in late 2023 “proved that Nimbus Mirai is comparable to the existing performance running shoe lineup.”
The project to bring the Nimbus Mirai to life began two years ago and that included working with the Asics Institute of Sports Science in Kobe, Japan, to develop a technology that allows the brand to separate the upper from the sole after use. Makinoda confirms that the proprietary glue’s first use comes in the Mirai, a key element in allowing the shoe to be taken apart and reused.
Asics isn’t the first running shoe company to offer up a recycled performance option, although they are one of the largest to join the circular effort. European shoemakers On and Salomon have already launched circular performance programs.
Asics says the release of the Nimbus Mirai follows the company’s effort to reduce the quantity of waste within the industry, adding that the roughly 24 billion shoes produced globally each year that go into landfills or are incinerated at the end of their life is not sustainable.
The shoe retails for $180 and consumers are encouraged to return it at the end of its life for the recycling process. “We ask runners to take an extra step with this shoe,” says Fumitaka Kamifukumoto, project leader of the Nimbus Mirai development, “and bring it back to us once they have finished with it. That way, we can continue our mission toward creating a sound Earth for future generations.”