10136505Eco-friendly recyclable performance trainers using nanotechnologyClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UKAccording to the European Environment Agency, \>14million tonnes of non-biodegradable microplastics have accumulated in oceans, with apparel textiles responsible for large proportions. The textile industry also contributes 10% of global carbon emissions, more than air travel/shipping combined (Source:European Parliament). Synthetic materials like EVAs/polyesters/rubber/nylon/elastanes typically used in trainers and other shoes are significant contributors to this problem, but the**technological challenge** is that due to their high mechanical performance the footwear industry has difficult moving away from them. Even where alternatives exist (e.g.fibres from banana-waste), issues like scalability or inferior strength and elasticity compared to existing technologies hinder adoption. Brands have a **business need** to move away from polluting traditional materials as incoming regulation requires greater environmental accountability. Graphene is an emerging material that at its atomic level is 200x stronger than steel but extremely lightweight. Nanoloom's co-founder has developed and patented a novel polymer based on functionalised graphene oxide covalently bonded to biodegradable base materials, ensuring full inheritance of graphene's super properties without any shedding. The material was originally engineered to safely biodegrade in the human body as a nerve regeneration conduit and not elute any microfibres, hence it is already independently certified as non-toxic. It is also chemically recyclable for re-use. Nanoloom secured an IUK Smart Grant and successfully set up stabilised pilot scale production to extrude the polymer into stretch fibre replacement for materials like elastane, and used it in a final prototype garment as well as third-party tested fabrics. However, if Nanoloom limits its innovation to only an elastane replacement, its material will be blended with other traditional (potentially toxic) materials before it ends up in final products like garments or footwear. This could make it difficult to separate for recycling or biodegradation. **The purpose of this project** is to eliminate this risk by manufacturing our material in various ways to demonstrate that we can engineer an entire end-product from just our polymer (a pair of trainers), which will be biodegradable in certain conditions, recyclable and non-toxic but also exhibit exceptional mechanical performance.