Plant Cork Pack

Behind the Design

See how we put a natural twist on a classic shoe with at least 20% recycled content by weight, including partially recycled cork and plant-based designs

Last updated: 13 April 2021
Plant Cork Pack: Behind the Design

Inspired by the Plant Kingdom

Like many plant-loving athletes out there, our designers are inspired by nature. Our design team dreamt up the Plant Cork Pack collection, made with at least 20% recycled content by weight, as a way to honour that inspiration and let athletes do the same. Each shoe is dedicated to a plant we love and brought to life through embroidered botanical designs, scientific infographics and dye sourced from the plant itself.

Plant Cork Pack: Behind the Design

Ode To Nature

We start with a blank canvas of lower-impact materials like 100% recycled poly-canvas and recycled cork, then add plant-based colour.

The colour from each plant is then extracted in its own unique way. When it comes to indigo, we use the leaves and stems themselves, first letting them ferment. For pomegranate, we boil the fruit rinds into liquid to create its vibrant yellow. With catechu, it's the heart wood that's boiled to unlock its shade.

Plant Cork Pack: Behind the Design

"Flowers are processed into a dye and give off a colour. On each shoe we are highlighting a plant, and whatever colour that plant is processed into is the accent colour on that shoe".

– Dohnn Ball, Plant Cork Pack Team

Plant Cork Pack: Behind the Design

Responsible Cork

Rubber infused with cork that's partially recycled from the wine industry or harvested by stripping the bark through a process that does not harm the tree and allows 100% regeneration.

Plant Cork Pack: Behind the Design

Bringing Classics Back to Earth

Through a radical re-imagining of classic silhouettes, now athletes can sport a natural twist on iconic Nike shoes. Athletes can show off their love for plants like catechu, indigo and pomegranate with the infused plant dye, simple infographics artfully placed as educational moments and botanical flourishes stitched into the sides.

Cork Plant Pack

Originally published: 15 April 2021

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