Israeli material science company Balena has launched its eco-chic BioCir Slides, made of its proprietary, 100% biodegradable plastic.
- Balena's BioCir, a moldable, biodegradable elastomer, provides a viable alternative to the polluting plastic materials currently used by fashion brands for clothing and footwear, the company has claimed.
The Innovation: Balena's proprietary BioCir 100% compostable plastic, the company claims, is durable, flexible, soft, and smooth, which makes it the perfect alternative to current polluting shoe materials while allowing brands to develop footwear identical in look and feel to their current products.
- The material can be treated like any other and used in regular injection molding processes as well as 3D printing, with the limitless manufacturing opportunities that these afford.
- It can be integrated into regular manufacturing processes with ease and replicated at scale globally, reducing a significant barrier to entry for manufacturers.
The Product: Balena has debuted its "fully compostable slides" for both men and women, designed and manufactured in Italy and made entirely of BioCir, by dropping the first thousand pairs in the company's hometown, Tel Aviv.
- Balena has also introduced a fully circular system – BioCycling – that facilitates the disposal and complete biodegradation of its BioCir slides in an industrial compost environment.
- Once a customer has finished using the slides, instead of tossing them into the garbage on their way to a landfill, they can instead return them to designated take-back spots throughout the city where they are collected for full biodegradation at a local industrial compost facility.
What They Said:
The global fashion industry is one of the world's biggest polluters. At Balena, our goal is to help turn this around. We're doing this by creating our own viable biodegradable plastic alternatives and fully circular systems that can be easily scaled, and copied and pasted across the globe. We hope our BioCir footwear shows the world that there is a real alternative: Fashion can be fabulous, functional and Earth-friendly. We're proud to be the company opening the door for any fashion brand to start stepping into a more circular future.
— David Roubach
Founder and CEO
Balena
