Designer knits biodegradable children’s shoes

In a day when fast fashion is the norm, and so much of what we wear ends up in landfills, one designer has a fresh idea: biodegradable knit shoes for children that come with an expiration date. “What if we could buy clothes the same way we buy milk, according to our needs and taking into account the expiration date of the product?” industrial designer Shahar Asor asks. 

Asor’s answer was to knit children’s shoes using biodegradable thread that can disassemble at a pre-defined timeframe. Made on a double bed knitting machine, the shoes consist of one knitted piece with different textures, which includes the soft upper part and the strong, flexible sole.

Titled “Best Before,” the material research project offers to reconcile the contradiction between long shelf life of a garment and the need to change our wardrobe by applying the expiration date concept to the fashion industry. By creating a knit based composite material, the project examines the production and design processes of a biodegradable textile and its potential uses.

The designer is a recent graduate of the Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.