Instead of reselling them, Nike destroys the newly made shoes

According to a German investigation, Nike, instead of reselling them, destroyed the new shoes that were returned. In the face of sustainability!

Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

According to a German investigation, Nike, instead of reselling them, destroyed the new shoes returned by customers. So much for sustainability and its much sponsored Move to Zero!





Sometimes customers return their newly purchased new shoes after realizing they weren't quite what they were looking for. Perhaps a wrong size, perhaps a color no longer desired. So they bring them back to the store with the label still on, assuming they will then be put back on the shelf to be bought by another customer.

An assumption that is not really valid for Nike. According to an investigation by NDR, Die Zeit and the research startup Flip, the sportswear giant sent the new undamaged shoes to be recycled at its recycling facility, simply because they had been returned to the brand. Put them back on sale? Too demanding it seems.

Index

GPS locators

Reporters used GPS trackers to figure this out. After buying a new pair of Nike sneakers - without ever wearing them or damaging them - they returned the product adding only a small GPS tracker and leaving no stain.

We really took care that these shoes weren't faulty in any way: they didn't have a scratch, ”explained journalist Christian Salewski, founder of Flip.

The trackers showed that the sneakers were sent to a recycling center in Herenthout, Belgium, where the goods are shredded, recycled and transformed into other products, contradicting Nike's claim that "unworn items and impeccable are put back on the shelves for resale ".

Nike is a pioneer in terms of sustainability. It's just stupid that we're at the world's largest...

Posted by Let's flip on Thursday, November 11, 2021

Is Nike breaking the law?

This could be a violation of the German Money Laundering Management Act. In fact, according to the Circular Economy Law, returned goods that are fit for use must not be disposed of or recycled unless all methods, such as resale, have been tried to extend the life of the product.



Breaking this law could lead to a $ 100.000 fine for Nike. Perhaps at first glance not much for the sportswear giant but, with consumers paying more and more attention to the environmental and social impact of their purchases, vigilant in trying to unveil greenwashing, this could be a major reputational damage. of the brand.

Sneaker hunting

Instead of reselling them, Nike destroys the newly made shoes

©Flip /Facebook

What really happens to our old shoes? This is the question that served as a starting point for the joint research Sneakerjagd, or "Sneaker hunt" carried out by the group of German journalists from NDR, Die Zeit and Flip. To understand what was happening, they hid GPS trackers in eleven pairs of celebrity shoes and disposed of them in different ways.

The goal is to find out what really happens to our old shoes when they are put into recycling systems. Can we trust the sustainability promises of manufacturers and retailers? What is the environmental impact of our frantic shoe consumption? On the website www.sneakerjagd.de you can follow the journey of the shoes on an interactive map.

Fast fashion is a huge problem. This has actually been known for years. But nothing changes, on the contrary: more and more are produced, faster and cheaper. The fashion industry now causes as much CO2 as international flights and cruises combined. Not to mention the consumption of resources and the garbage that is generated ”, the journalists reply to explain their motivations for carrying out this project.

Like almost no other item of clothing, sneakers represent the fast fashion society. The sneakers business is booming. Approximately 1,4 billion pairs of sneakers are sold annually, double the amount in 2012. Multinationals make about $ 70 billion in sales, roughly equivalent to Luxembourg's GDP.



What does Nike say?

Journalists have asked Nike for an explanation, but this only refers to their sustainability report. At COP26, however, they had the opportunity to speak with Noel Kinder, the company's sustainability manager.

Of course, this is not part of what we are trying to do, ”Kinder replies.

A Nike spokesperson at least admits that returns "showing signs of possible damage or use" are destroyed and recycled. By referring to simple “signs”, the company opens up a wide space for interpretation. He also denied that the new and flawless shoes are destroyed, but are put back on the shelves.

However, the latest GPS signal from the new shoes returned by reporters came from a waste recycling company. Do you think these shoes smell of greenwashing?

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Fonte: sneaker hunt / flip / NDR / Die Zeit / Nike

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