Shoebox is 100% Recycled. But Wait, There's More...

This is a great idea. Nike, Adidas? Jump on at anytime.

great idea. expensive shoes.

What about shipping? Wouldn't it be more efficient to ship them in a rectangular box, because you would be able to ship more in the same space?

This is some of the best 'green' packaging design I've seen in a VERY long time! Form actually follows function, the materials are 100% recycled and the packaging is minimal. Congrats to whomever developed the design for thinking outside the 'box' (pardon the pun).

Not a good idea. You wont fit anymore of these into a shipping container and ordinary cardboard boxes can be recycled anyways

How toxic is the glue used in these shoes? Will this company be posting the ingredients in the glues used in their shoes?

Ordinary cardboard shoeboxes can be reused in many ways. I love them. They are "green" because they can be reused to death, then composted. I'm still using shoeboxes I got 20 years ago!

This idea is a step in the right direction. I doubt this design would holdup to overseas travel in containers. The odd box shape and lack of tissue are problems. The tissue helps prevent wear on the shoes caused by their rubbing and vibrating together. Consumers don't want to buy shoes that don't look perfectly new. The box shape will have similar deterioration from the boxes rubbing together. The consumer perception of a worn box is that the shoes are old or may have been returned. Retailers, large and small, know this and demand a certain level of box quality.

The best think about this box is that it's not printed or coated. Most of the shoe manufactures use large-scale printers in China and Korea with outmoded technology and little attention to VOCs.

good Idea..

@ Brian.

draw a box around the pair of shoes, and compare the material used for each....you'll find that the material for the box design above is less. calculate that amount, over a million boxes like that is a lot of material saved, less material to waste at the consumer end and ultimately go back into recycling. over time, the cost will go down.

@ Ross

those boxes stack up as easily as rectangular ones. So shipping will be no problem

Sid:
They won't ship as easily. Think about it. Sure, they can be stacked. But can they be uniformly put together, side by side, in a crate. If you put three of these boxes next to each other, there would be gaps. A better solution is to stick with a small, rectangular box, and make it out of 100% post-consumer recycled materials. Then, it is even easier for people to reuse the box (as other commenters have mentioned).

Paper pulp is not green, the recycling process uses ridiculous amounts of water. And although the water can be reused it is not cost effective.

This looks like an idea with plenty of wider applications. Anything we can do to lessen the unnecessary use of resources and energy has got to be good and the cleaner technology is a big plus, too.

I think that shoeboxes are not the problem...

That's just dumb. I can always use more boxes, so those old shoeboxes tend to be reused for storing crap.

This thing is hideous looking and has a nasty form factor and I'd chuck it away just as soon as I got the shoes home.

@Ross - Square boxes just put the unused space on the inside of the box, rather than the outside. Plus, I can see these boxes being packed upside-down, interlocking the overhang on the top so that they can fit in less space than a conventional box.

Of course, I wear canvas high tops that can be collapsed down to almost nothing.

Fantastic, about time! Great design, so nice with companies that dare be a little different!!