Shoes Made From Coffee Grounds Help The Planet and are actually comfy

A Finnish startup has discovered that your morning coffee can be used to create a pair of sneakers. Rens upcycles old coffee to develop fresh kicks, saving landfill space and reducing methane emissions.

With 21 cups of coffee and 6 recycled plastic bottles in each pair, the sneakers received over $500,000 in funding from 5,000 supporters.

Rens are available in nine different colors, are waterproof, and are quite comfortable. In addition, the shoes absorb odors and are engineered to be easily slid on and off.

Rens co-founder Jesse Tran aimed to construct something to help people decrease their carbon 'footprint,' while also providing a useful and fashionable everyday shoe.

Tran said, “As environmental awareness increases, so too does knowledge of the circular economy. Shoes made from recycled coffee grounds may seem novel to some, but we wholeheartedly believe that this is just the beginning of a revolution in garment technology and manufacturing.”

250,000 bottles and 750,000 cups of coffee have been transformed into these shoes thus far, making them truly unique. The coffee grounds are blended with recycled plastic in a low-heat setting to form a "coffee yarn" that is spun into the upper portion of the shoe, recycled plastic is used for the other elements and the outside sole is made of biodegradable milky tree sap.

While the pricing on Amazon is somewhat high at $119, they do provide free shipping worldwide, a guaranteed 1-year waterproof, and a 30-day refund guarantee.

GNN also highlighted a shoe built from environmentally friendly materials that doubles as an apple tree's fast-growing pod. The canvass of the shoe contains enzymes that attract microorganisms to decompose the shoe more quickly than normal, thus even if they aren't planted in the ground, they will break down in a landfill where most shoes won’t.