SCARPA’s first fully biodegradable shoe wins 2021 outdoor retailer innovation award

The Mojito Bio unveils a market first, a biodegradable performance rubber sole, yielding a shoe that breaks down 85 percent in 450 days.

BOULDER, Colo. (Feb. 2, 2021) – The new SCARPA Mojito Bio, the first 100-percent biodegradable shoe with a performance rubber sole, was recognized this month as a industry winner in the third-annual Outdoor Retailer Innovation Awards. The award recognizes the outdoor industry’s most innovative product releases each season. 

The Mojito Bio, which will be available starting in Spring 2021, earned third-party certification for its biodegradability from Intertrek. At the end of its life, 85 percent of the shoe will decompose after 450 days in a landfill. Shoes made with conventional materials, by contrast, take 40 to 50 years to decompose, and the midsole of many running shoes can last up to 1,000 years in landfill conditions. 

The Mojito Bio uses a special, biodegradable EVA midsole, while the outside uses an innovative new biodegradable rubber blend, which is a first to market. The uppers are made from Bio Knit Fabric, a super-breathable material made from biodegradable fibers. The lining is natural cotton, and all other components are also biodegradable  and the construction uses water-based, non-polluting adhesives. The Mojito Bio is the sustainable derivation of SCARPA’s top selling shoe worldwide, the Mojito.  

“With 300 million pairs of shoes getting tossed out by Americans each year to pile up in landfills, footwear is a good segment to focus on for biodegradable materials,” said Cameron Martindell, an Outdoor Retailer Innovation Award judge and the journalist behind offyonder.com. “SCARPA did well to target its highest-volume selling shoe to prove the biodegradable footwear concept and to make the biggest impact it could. Traditionally, shoemaking uses toxic adhesives, materials, and has toxic waste byproducts, meaning it took a considerable amount of innovation to eliminate those elements and pioneer a new path.”

Winners of the Innovation Awards are chosen based on spark, desire, function and impact. These four criteria help determine the products that not only set themselves apart from the rest, but also make a significant cultural and environmental impact that offers an example for the rest of the industry. 

“Outdoor consumers appreciate a healthy environment. More sustainable choices in footwear not only help provide a solution tying into the passions of consumers in our industry, they help lead the way beyond our industry as the world grapples with complex issues like mounting environmental pollution,” said Kim Miller, CEO of SCARPA North America. “Companies can do better by choosing to pioneer and use better technologies. SCARPA wants to be part of that change. We are excited to unveil this in our single highest-volume style, and we plan to use more of these technologies across more of our products in coming seasons.” 

SCARPA’s Mojito Bio will retail for $179. 

About SCARPA and SCARPA North America 

Founded in 1938, SCARPA builds performance footwear for climbing, hiking, skiing, mountaineering, trail running and other outdoor pursuits from its headquarters in Asolo, Italy. SCARPA has been owned and operated by the Parisotto family since 1956. In 2005, SCARPA opened its North American headquarters in Boulder, Colo., staffed and directed by veterans of the North American outdoor industry, to oversee sales, marketing and distribution in the U.S., Canada and South America. For more information about SCARPA footwear, visit www.scarpa.com.