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“FOOD TEXTILE” is a sustainable project brand consisting of three companies: TOYOSHIMAI, a food-related company that provides colored raw materials, and a collaborative company that develops products with the fabric. They purchase non-standard ingredients, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and other items that would otherwise be discarded by food-related companies and farms. From these, pigments are extracted and used to dye fabrics and threads, creating new items.
Since 2018, ASICS has been incorporating cellulose nanofiber, a fiber made from wood resources and recognized as a next-generation high-performance material, into its running shoes. To reduce the large amount of water and wastewater typically generated during the dyeing process, ASICS has also adopted “Solution Dye,” a technique that colors raw materials in advance during the manufacturing of shoe fabric. This approach supports the development of products for a more sustainable future for our planet.
This collaboration came about because ASICS resonated with FOOD TEXTILE’s efforts to address the issue of food loss and waste across industries, and because the desired results cannot be achieved with chemical dyes. It was made possible by their shared interest in the gentle, natural colors that can only be derived from food sources.
The raw materials used for this product’s colors are rooibos, persimmon, matcha, and lettuce that would otherwise be discarded from farms. By combining two of these colors, rooibos and persimmon were used to create the color for the “GEL-LYTE III OG,” while matcha and lettuce were used for the “GEL-LYTE V.”
