Shoeboxes have been around for years and they account
for millions of tons of waste each year. They’ve packaged everything from the coveted stilettos to square-toe
men’s leather shoes inside their colourful cardboard rectangle boxes.
But on Tuesday, April 13, PUMA announced they’re ditching the traditional shoebox and dipping their paw
prints into a more eco-friendly package to transport your shoes from store to home.
Since last year, the sports lifestyle company has promoted their goal of implementing social and
environmental standards with the introduction of PUMAVision. On Tuesday, this next phase of long-term
sustainability was announced with their innovative solution to ditch the shoeboxes altogether.
Yves Behar, a renowned industrial designer and CEO of Fuseproject, dreamed the idea up. With
PUMAVision, they went through 2,000 ideas, more than 40 packaging prototypes and at the end of the 21 months,
they came up with the smartest “shoebox” ever.
This cutting-edge, sustainable shoe packaging and distribution system is called the “Clever Little Bag.” It
is an incredibly clever way to reduce the environment footprint of each shoe’s packaging.
Fuseproject and PUMA worked relentlessly on materials and fabrication methods to reduce material and shipping
costs. It’s made out of 100% recycled paper and 20% recycled non-woven polypropylene. It is basically a
cardboard frame that is wrapped in a reusable shoe bag (the ones you use to hold your groceries
in).
Switching from their traditional red shoebox to the Clever Little Bag will reduce their cardboard use by 65%.
This innovative system will also save 8,500 tons of paper, 20 million megajoules of electricity, one million
litres of water, 500,000 litres of diesel and 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide, as well as 275 tons of plastic
by eliminating plastic shopping bags.
This revolutionary shift will not only change their business, but may one day change the business industry
and contribute to a better world. You’ll be seeing PUMA’s Clever Little Bag starting in the second half of
next year.
The question is: Will you be going boxless?•
