Saucony Debuts Plant-Based Sneaker Alongside New Sustainability Goals
Saucony’s most sustainable running shoe to date is made with a cornucopia of plant-based inputs.
The Triumph Run For Good (RFG) sneaker, unveiled this week, combines the Wolverine Worldwide brand’s 55-percent corn-based PWRRUN BIO+ midsole foam and sock liner, a mesh upper colored with plant-based dyes, and an 80-percent natural rubber sole that offers analogous performance to standard synthetic versions. The vegan style will be available in men’s size 7-13 and women’s sizes 5-12 on Sept. 5, and will retail for $160.
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The release is the Massachusetts-based sportswear brand’s latest step toward its recently revised sustainability goals. This week, Saucony announced that by 2025, 90 percent of its products will contain organic, recycled or renewable materials. By 2030, the brand aims to see 100 percent of its assortment contain preferred inputs. The company has also instituted a new baseline measurement, RFG Standard, that indicates whether a product meets its sustainability goals, and products like the Triumph RFG will bear the RFG Badge.
“This year, as we celebrate Saucony’s 125th anniversary, we look back on how creating a better world has always been part of our deep-rooted heritage,” global brand president Rob Griffiths said. With its latest commitment, Griffiths said Saucony aims to help elevate the industry, its partners and the running community. “The future of our sport depends on the future of our planet, and we know we can do better for ourselves and the earth,” he added.
Because “[t]here’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” Saucony believes “it is imperative that we are constantly innovating, researching, and committing to our promise to find more sustainable options,” Griffiths said.
The athletic brand has made strides toward its goal to move away from virgin and synthetic components in recent seasons; in 2020, nearly all of Saucony’s spring apparel was made in part with organic, recycled or renewable inputs. One year later, it launched the Jazz Court RFG sneaker, made with seven natural materials and zero plastic—its most eco-friendly shoe at the time. Last year saw the first ever footwear collaboration with Los Angeles-based textile-to-textile recycling body Ambercycle, the maker of Cycora regenerated polyester. Saucony launched a line of running tops made with 23 percent Cycora.
“What we use to make our footwear and apparel has a big impact on our environmental footprint—that’s why we focus on natural and recycled materials that reduce the need for synthetic chemicals and harmful production processes,” Saucony senior vice president of global product Brian Moore said.
Moore said runners who care about the environment shouldn’t have to choose between sustainability and performance—concepts that “don’t always go hand-in-hand.” With the launch of the Triumph RFG sneaker, the brand aimed to prove that it could maintain essential performance attributes while promoting better materials, “with the added goal of ensuring that the product remains affordable for the consumer,” Moore pointed out.
“Saucony continues to make progress in its sustainability journey, and the Triumph RFG is just one of many Saucony styles to be reimagined with the future of the planet at the forefront,” he added.
