Meet the material: GUM-TEC®

Waste becomes a manufacturing input

Gumdrop’s current material page identifies two input streams: post-consumer waste from its collection bins and portable Gumdrops, and pre-consumer waste from gum manufacturers. It processes waste gum into compounds that can replace conventional materials in selected rubber and plastic applications.

This describes the supplier’s material system. The original GUMSHOE campaign specifically refers to gum collected from Amsterdam’s streets. Those statements have different scopes: the overall GUM-TEC® supply system and one shoe project.

A material family, not a finished shoe

The supplier offers compounds for different applications and describes bespoke development for particular properties. GUMSHOE is one use of that material expertise. A shoe still needs a designed outsole, other components, assembly and a fit specification.

Processing waste gum into a compound changes its function. You are looking at a manufactured material in the sole, rather than loose chewing gum placed directly into a sneaker.

From development to a visible product

London Metropolitan University’s 22 March 2018 account documents Anna Bullus’s work with its Polymers department and describes three years of material development. It gives context for the collection bins and Gum-tec products; it is not a certification of every later shoe.

Gumdrop’s current footwear section mentions GUMSHOE as previous experience and an Adidas Stan Smith collaboration as a separate project. GUMSHOE should not be labelled an Adidas model.

Questions for a specific pair

• Which material specification applies to this model or batch?
• Which component and measurement basis does any recycled-content percentage describe?
• What care instructions apply to the assembled shoe?
• Is there an active take-back route for the whole pair, rather than for gum waste only?