Puma aiming to produce compostable trainers and T-shirts

German sportswear manufacturer working on designs for shoes and clothing that can be buried at the bottom of the garden

guardian.co.uk, Louise Osborne in Berlin, Sunday 13 November 2011

Along with the leftovers, you may soon be able to add your old trainers to
the compost heap. Photograph: Kathy De Witt/Alamy

Your flowers love it, it's environmentally friendly and saves on rubbish collection. And soon you will be able to add your worn-out trainers and T-shirts to the carrot peels, potato skins and eggshells on the compost heap at the end of your garden, if German sportswear manufacturer Puma gets its way.

"We are confident that in the near future we will be able to bring the first shoes, T-shirts and bags, that are either compostable or recyclable, to the market," Puma boss Franz Koch told the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche.

He explained that the company was working with partners on developing products on the principle of the "cradle-to-cradle" design. "It follows two circuits, the technical and the biological: I can use old shoes to make new ones or something completely different, such as car tyres," said Koch, who has led the sports clothing company since July.

"In the biological cycle, I can make shoes and shirts that are compostable so I can shred them and bury them in the back garden. We are working on products that meet these two criteria."

Last year the sportswear company revealed its five-year sustainability strategy with the unveiling of its Clever Little Bag, a reusable bag produced to replace shoeboxes and made from 65% less paper as well as having a reduced water, energy and diesel consumption.

The developments come at a time when there has been a trend towards the creation of green fashion in the form of ecological and sustainable clothing.

German fashion designer and microbiologist Anke Domaske has produced organic chemical-free clothing using milk to create the first manmade, industrial-strength fibre at the Hanover-based company Qmilch.

And earlier this year, Harry Potter actor Emma Watson teamed up with Italian designer Alberta Ferretti to launch a collection made entirely from environmentallyfriendly materials.