Nike Trash Talk – Calvin Gorman

Corporations around the world have such a great influence on not only our environment but also our population. Large corporations such as Nike hold such strong power due to their global reach to draw attention to certain issues, in this particular case environmental issues. 

Nike is arguably the biggest and most popular global apparel brand and the corporation holds a lot of power in influencing people and drawing them to certain matters. Although Nike is trying to become more sustainable and has now joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the company still has a long way to go before it can be branded as totally sustainable. Upon my research I found an initiative that Nike has started where they have partnered with Steve Nash, an All-star player for the Phoenix Suns who is very invested in environmental sustainability. The project was given the title, “Nike Trash Talk”. The collaboration aimed to create a usable and durable basketball shoe that was made entirely from manufactured waste. Senior Creative Designer for Running Shoes Kasey Jarvis, was the Nike director who worked with Nash to create the Trash Talk shoe. The silhouette of the shoe was identical to one that Nike had produced before, however this sustainable model was made entirely out of scrap material collected from Asian Nike factories. 

With Nike having such a large global reach and Steve Nash being involved in the project, many people heard about the shoe before it was even put on shelves. Thus bringing a lot of demand to the shoes and raising awareness about why the shoes were being made out of recycled material. When thinking of shoes being made with trash and other scrap materials we would imagine that they would be sold in smaller less expensive stores such as Target or Walmart however this would not draw enough attention to the project. Therefore Kasey Jarvis decided to release the shoes exclusively at the biggest NBA shoe store in New York City. Where the shoes sold out in a matter of hours. 

Overall I believe that this collaboration was definitely quite a significant step in the right direction for Nike, there is still a long way to go for them to achieve true sustainability. I also think that there should be more education into why these shoes are being made, and not just the fact that an NBA All-star promotes them.