ammo liao develops nature influenced bio-knit recyclable sneakers

ammo liao develops nature influenced bio-knit recyclable sneakers
all images courtesy of ammo liao

on average, 330 million pairs of shoes find their way to peoples’ feet every year in the UK alone. unfortunately, with each new pair, another finds itself on the way to the landfill where it will take over 50 years — minimum — to decompose. due to the large amount of materials used in a contemporary pair of sneakers, as many as 65 in some cases, recycling is difficult and expensive.

‘bio knit’ 

designer ammo liao created ‘bio-knit’ in response to the unchecked waste caused by the shoe industry. by mimicking organic organisms and systems in nature, liao developed a single, multi-functional material that can simultaneously display soft, flexible, and robust textures. goods made with a single element could potentially have massive effect on the manufacturing and recycling of any industry, not just footwear. obvious benefits include: conservation of natural resources, less solid-waste in landfills, energy savings, greenhouse/pollution reduction due to ridding of unnecessary creation processes, and drastically reducing the cost of recycling. a pair of sneakers was made by liao with no other material then ‘bio-knit’ in order to showcase the potential it has. 

material strength characteristics 

various applications 

construction and recycling

3D knitting/ laser engraving / 3D printing

laser engraved application

patterns 

knit shoe surface 

heat press machine

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom