Reebok’s New Vegan Sneakers Come with a Box of Produce

On October 1, the first 50 customers to purchase Reebok’s new plant-based Forever Floatride GROW sneakers will receive a community supported agriculture (CSA) box filled with a half bushel of fresh vegetables in a dozen varieties. For every box given to a customer—who can access the offer through the shoe brand’s UNLOCKED loyalty program—Reebok and its CSA partner Siena Farms will donate a produce box to people facing food insecurity. 

The new Forever Floatride GROW ($120 per pair) sneakers are made entirely from plants, including a midsole made from castor beans, a eucalyptus tree-based upper, and sole made from rubber trees, and a sockliner made from BLOOM—an algae-based material. “Forever Floatride GROW is made for runners who care about performance and want to feel good about the products they use daily,” Reebok Product Director Emily Mullins said. “This shoe is the result of a long journey to create a plant-based running shoe that looks and performs like other best-in-class footwear and can withstand running a marathon. It’s an important milestone for sustainable performance as making running shoes out of plants is challenging because they need to withstand impact.” 

In 2017, Reebok debuted another innovative plant-based shoe made from cotton and corn in an effort to bring new sustainability initiatives into the footwear industry. “We expect to be able to use more plant-based alternatives for our products moving forward and we’ll move fast in this space,” Mullins said. “We have a responsibility and opportunity to help the planet. It’s the right thing to do.”