Converse and Propelland created 15 prototypes for potential commercial exploration

• The fast fashion model has resulted in a number of environmental challenges including: Water scarcity, high energy consumption, non-renewable material extraction, and a rampant throw away culture. Converse and design agency Propelland came to Ubuntoo with a creative brief to generate a kitchen like funnel of innovations across the fashion supply chain — from raw materials to upcycled waste. The goal of the project was to achieve a sustainable Chuck Taylor sneaker through a circular, systemic, cradle-to-cradle approach and move away from the prevalent linear model implemented by fast fashion brands since the late 1980s. 

• Using a systems thinking approach, Ubuntoo’sidentified a wide variety of solutions ranging from material innovations for recycling to post-consumer resale tools to achieve circularity. Each ecopreneur was carefully vetted and brought into the “kitchen funnel” housed on Ubuntoo’s AI-assisted private collaboration tool known as a GreenHouses. 

• This project is a testimony to the importance of fast prototyping that can result in attaining partial success rather than wait for one perfect solution to emerge. As a result of the solutions discovered through Ubuntoo’s solution search GreenHouse, Converse and Propelland conducted 15 prototyping exercises which will likely be commercially explored in the future. 
• Through this process, the client also learned about some of the on-ground limitations of implementing sustainable solutions. While some innovative materials have been adopted and reserved exclusively for a few recognized brands, other sustainable innovations in the industry can only be adopted at a small scale.