This photo provided by Hankook Tire & Technology Co. shows the company’s eco-friendly sneakers.
SEOUL, July 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world’s sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, said Wednesday it will make and sell more of the limited edition footwear produced by using recycled tires through a collaboration with domestic startup Treadngroove as the existing inventory had sold out.
The two companies jointly produced a limited edition series of eco-friendly sneakers called HK Groovy. Hankook Tire supplied hard-to-sell tires with defects like scratches, while Treadngroove recycled the tires into shoe soles.
The first round of production was limited to 200 pairs. Reservation sales started last month through Treadngroove’s website, and all of the inventory has since sold out.
Accordingly, Treadngroove decided to produce 100 more pairs that can be ordered from next month.
The footwear made of recycled tires can contribute to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide by about 9 kilograms per pair. In other words, the collaboration resulted in a carbon emissions reduction of a total of 2,700 kilograms.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
