Tunera

Tunera - a bio-neutral, plastic-free foam for footwear / Source: Natural Fiber Welding

BreathableCorkFlexibleNorth AmericaRecyclableRegenerativeRubberTextilesTunera

WHAT WE SAY:

Now that consumers have tried EVA, there’s no going back. People love walking on fossil-fuel foam, but with over 20 billion pairs of shoes made each year, comfort is costing us the earth. Enter Tunera. A foam for footwear made entirely from plant nutrients that disintegrates back into plant nutrients at the end of its life.

It's no surprise that this revolutionary material comes from Natural Fiber Welding (NFW). The materials science company is renowned for mixing and moulding what nature gives us without modifying it beyond recognition. Tunera™ is set to change the footwear market for good - and is already in use today - but we can't wait to see how many other industries it can also disrupt.

Tunera

WHAT IS TUNERA?

Tunera is a plant-made foam designed to replace synthetic EVA and PU in the footwear market. It's made from Cork, Rubber, fibres and minerals. The product is so new that in emailed questions, the NFW team stated it was the first time they’d had to reveal to outsiders what it's made of.
Cork comes from the cork oak tree, of which Portugal supplies around 80% of worldwide production. Natural rubber comes from the rubber tree, hevea brasiliensis, grown primarily in Southeast Asia.
Like other foams used in footwear, Tunera is squishy. The brand claims that Tunera has elite compression without compromising rebound and “maintains its comfort over time far better than incumbent synthetic foams.”
Despite Tunera's superior degradation properties, the company is not striving for home compostability certification as degradation rates will differ depending on environment and size - much like you can't quantify how long a tree limb will take to break down in nature. As a result, the brand champions recyclability and long-lasting materials instead.
Tunera was originally made for the footwear industry, but EVA and PU foams are used in many other products too, such as yoga mats. NFW plans to expand its use beyond shoes in the near future. Like the company's other materials, Tunera can be tuned, adjusting nutrients and minerals to make it suitable for different industries.
NFW isn't concerned about scalability and says there is no upper limit on how much it can produce. The company says the supply chain and ingredients are in place, and it envisions working with global partners in the Americas, Europe and Southeast Asia, who can mix and mould products themselves.
Tunera can also be integrated with existing infrastructure, allowing brands to quickly and easily adopt it. To understand existing needs, the global foam market, which includes footwear, was valued at an estimated USD 93.9 billion in 2021, and is set to increase to USD 118.9 billion by 2026.
In April 2022, NFW closed a Series B funding round at USD 85 million to secure scalability for its natural materials.

KEY PROPERTIES:

Breathable
Flexible
Recyclable
Regenerative

INDUSTRY:

Textiles

AVAILABILITY:

Partner Trials

DIVE DEEPER:

There were 22.2 billion pairs of shoes made in 2021, down from a high of 24.3 billion in 2019. Fossil fuel-based EVA and PU foam account for 35% of shoe materials worldwide, and take 1,000 years to decompose, with the majority sent to landfill over recycling due to the complicated construction of footwear.
Using natural materials such as cork and rubber has many advantages over their synthetic counterparts. Growing and harvesting cork and rubber can create healthy managed forests. In Portugal, cork trees prevent desertification and encourage biodiversity. Harvesters are some of the highest paid agricultural workers in the world. And while the rubber industry has its environmental concerns, NFW states that its rubber comes from “responsibly managed plantations in Thailand, with some of the best health, safety, and environmental practices in the industry.”
The first use of Tunera is in UNLESS Collective's The Degenerate sneaker, launched early December 2022. The sneaker is the world's first 100% bio-based shoe, made from NFW's Mirum, Clarus, Pliant and Tunera, with linen laces. It is said to naturally degrade in nature into vital nutrients.
Dr. Luke Haverhals, founder and CEO of NFW, and chemist and CTO Aaron Amstutz won the 2022 IPOEF Inventor of the Year award.

Workers harvesting cork from trees / Source: Shutterstock

With Tunera, NFW aims to replace synthetic EVA and PU in the footwear market / Source: Natural Fiber Welding

KEY FACTS:

22.2 billion

pairs of shoes were made in 2021

35%

Synthetic EVA and PU foam accounts for 35% of shoe materials worldwide

$118.9bn

The global foam market is expected to reach a value of USD 118.9 billion by 2026

Key Questions to Ask:

How soon would you like to work with Tunera?

Haverhals stated in October 2022 that over 1,500 brands had inquired about working with NFW materials to date. The wait might be too long for some, but we encourage perseverance as nutrient-based materials are the materials of the future.

How will you design for recyclability and circularity?

When used in footwear, Tunera has to be attached to other materials. If these materials are synthetic, or metal components are used, the recovery or degradation of Tunera becomes harder. Consider combining Tunera with NFW's other plant-based materials, pairing it with a Pliant sole and a Mirum and Clarus upper. The latter is a material platform that enhances the properties of natural materials, such as Cotton, Hemp and Wool, allowing for variety in design.

How will you ensure the reusability of Tunera?

NFW's preference for its materials is recycling, with Tunera able to be broken down and reformed with virgin-like quality. This solution is preferable to composting, to ensure the resources initially used to make it aren't wasted after one use. Brands must consider how they can facilitate this end-of-life solution, offering convenient take-back programmes that incentivise consumers to return footwear so it can be properly processed. Partner with NFW to bring their recycling technology in-house, meaning not all footwear has to be sent to NFW to be reused.