2017 may have been the year when the world’s fastest human seemed to slow down, but it was at least a good year for ocean plastic and running spikes for sprinters. In a collaboration with New York-based Parley for the Oceans, adidas engineered a track spike from recycled plastic, the Prime SP Parley.

Prime SP Parley is adidas’ first sprint spike to combine high-performance 3D knit and 360-degree Primeknit technology for a lighter upper made of 95% Parley Ocean Plastic. Incorporating a laser-welded frame reduced the size of the Nano-plate to half the size of other spike. This means the Parley SP Prime can provide a solid platform to create tension in the shoe, while still allowing the foot to be sunk close to the track on impact.

To add credibility to the material’s re-engineering, Olympic champions Wayde van Niekerk (400m) and Shaunae Miller-Uibo (200m) took the spike to their 2017 IAAF World Championship races in London, adding serious credibility to a spike that’s made from waste material – Niekerk took gold, Miller-Uibo bronze.

The adizero range of shoes also received some attention from adidas in 2017, with the Ultra Boost, Ultra Boost X and Ultra Boost Uncaged all made from recycled materials. The adizero silhouette combines a BOOST midsole with a Primeknit upper, preventing roughly 11 plastic bottles potentially from entering our oceans. A Continental STRETCHWEB outsole and full-length BOOST midsole remain constants.

Parley and adidas have been have been collaborating for years, see more at adidas.com/parley.