Shoes

Although most of our clothes fold and crease with our bodies as we move, our shoes maintain the same shape and appearance pretty much all the time. With that fact in mind, scientists are now developing a method of catching criminals via shoe ID.

Whether you're an athlete or someone experiencing foot pain, it's important to eliminate high-pressure areas in the soles of your shoes. An experimental insole could help, by showing where such areas are located during a variety of activities.

Although there are now a number of systems that capture carbon emissions from smokestacks, many people may still wonder – what is that captured carbon used for? Well, Swiss company On is making shoes out of the stuff.

Nike looks to make shoe recycling simpler with its new ISPA Link, a glue-less sneaker that quickly separates into three pieces to presort itself for recycling. The company hopes to scale the program to make sneaker recycling a more universal concept.

Discarded shoes are a particularly bulky form of waste, with their molded rubber soles joined to often synthetic uppers. Blueview shoes reportedly offer a greener alternative, however, as they're claimed to completely biodegrade once thrown away.

A team of scientists has been working on more environmentally friendly forms of footwear, and is now showing off a pair of algae-based flip flops that make the grade for commercial footwear, but degrade in the environment in just 16 weeks.

A lot of raw material goes into the making of footwear, so the less that can be used, the better for the environment. Nike's new Space Hippie shoes were designed with that in mind, as they're composed largely of recycled materials.

While it's nice to own multiple styles of shoes, each one of the things has a rubber sole that will ultimately end up in the landfill. Made2Share shoes are different – they incorporate a single set of soles that accommodate various zip-on uppers.

Germany's eco-lux footwear brand nat-2 has been making sustainable footwear for a few years, and has now launched some sneakers made from recycled coffee, with some recycled plastic bottles thrown in for good measure.​​ And yes, they smell of coffee.

​One of the more debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease is something known as "gait freeze," wherein the person temporarily loses the ability to step forward while walking. Scientists have come up with something that significantly reduces the problem, however – shoes with lasers in them.

Nakefit is one of those products that regularly crops up on crowdfunding sites squarely straddling the line between "why?" and "of course!". They're hypoallergenic elastic adhesive pads that stick onto the soles of your feet, providing some protection for those who don't like wearing shoes.

​Back in 2015, we heard about how bioplastics firm Algix and clean tech company Effekt were collaborating to make eco-friendly foam based on algae instead of petroleum. The material is now being marketed as Bloom foam, and you'll soon be able to buy shoes made out of the stuff.