German fashion company Zalando and French sporting gear retailer Decathlon, have teamed up with Groupe Eram and Revalorem to support the beginning of a program at the French technology hub Cetia that will recycle shoe soles.

The organization is investing one million euros, along with the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, to hasten the development of the program, which is also accessible to other brands and businesspeople who are interested in participating.

Six months have passed since Cetia unveiled its shoe sole recycling program, and this new "Reshoes" campaign builds on those efforts.

Chloé Salmon Legagneur, director of Cetia, said that footwear has been the poor cousin of recycling in Europe since the technological constraints are quite tough to overcome. It's fantastic news that such iconic players are cooperating to lower technology hurdles and therefore alter their sector. They take pride in having succeeded in bringing them together in Reshoes.

The Reshoes technology transfer initiative will launch its first fully automated line in March 2023. This line will start with material identification and end with the removal of shoes, followed by sorting and material processing that will provide deposits that are suitable for recycling.

1,000 pairs of shoes and soles per day will be processed via the industrial pilot, which will examine the feasibility of the process ahead of its large-scale deployment.