Seven brands and retail groups are to work with innovation hub Fashion for Good to make the footwear supply chain more circular. The partners have recognised the role that leather can play in this.

They have said this initiative will build on work that Amsterdam-based Fashion for Good is already doing to scout and validate start-ups that are offering innovative ideas aimed at helping textile and apparel groups make their supply chains more sustainable.

On Running, PVH Corp, Inditex, adidas, Reformation, Target and Zalando are the companies that will take part in this new programme. The partners have said they will address “key intervention points needed to drive footwear circularity”.

Because it identifies industry-wide collaboration as “vital to overcome the various roadblocks we face in this space”, Fashion for Good has issued a call for action, asking “all relevant innovators” to apply to join in the movement.

It said that around 23.9 billion pairs of shoes are produced globally each year and that these are often made using more than 40 different components. “The vast majority of discarded footwear ends up in landfills,” Fashion for Good said. It added that it wanted to work with its seven partners and with start-ups who join the programme to accelerate innovation and “lay the foundation for footwear circularity”.

This effort will span four work streams across the supply chain. The first of these is to identify sustainable footwear materials, including leather. Secondly, traceability of materials will also be part of the work.

The third work stream focuses on design. The programme will seek to define circular design in footwear and to build “a circular infrastructure”.

Work stream number four focuses on end of use, including sorting, disassembly and recycling. The partners want to develop comprehensive data on post-consumer footwear waste flows.

Fashion for Good managing director, Katrin Ley, said: “We and our corporate partners recognise the urgent need to accelerate innovation in footwear sustainability. Over the past seven years, we have consistently broken norms across various segments and are now leveraging our expertise to radically reimagine footwear, a segment ripe for disruption.”