Raw Materials

Nike six main materials used in all their products.

Nike uses many materials to make all their products but there are only six main materials that make up the majority of all their products mass. First the polyester, 19 percent of the polyester Nike uses is recycled. Nike helped recycle 82 million plastic water bottles to make polyester out of. The world cup jerseys Nike made in 2010 were 100% recycled polyester each using eight plastic bottles. The solid plastic bottles are broken down into pieces and then melted to a liquid when they are then made into polyester strands. China and India are the main polyester producers worldwide. The next main material Nike uses is rubber and they have used more and more environmentally preferred rubber. Well over 70% of Nikes shoes now use environmentally preferred rubber. Nike released their environmentally preferred rubber in 2002, this altered rubber is made by incorporating more benign accelerators and vegetable oils, they also modify the processing. Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia are the top producers of rubber around the world. Eva foam is a very environmentally friendly material used in many shoes. The main producers of Eva Foam are located in China. EVA stands for Ethylene Vinyl Acetate. Eva Foam is one of the most efficient and cheap materials that Nike uses in their shoes. The next material nike widely uses is cotton. Nike is proud to say that they are using more and more organic cotton every year and plan to keep this trend going. Organic cotton means that it is harvested without chemical pesticides, no fertilizer, and defoliants. Nike gets most of its cotton from suppliers in China, India, Turkey, and the United state Of America. Nikes plan is to have at least 10% of organic cotton in all of their appeal that contains cotton by 2015. Synthetic leather is also used often in nike products. Synthetic leather is a man made fabric the is made to look and feel like real leather but function better then real leather. Nike uses synthetic leather in many of their products because it is cheaper then real leather, tends to be more breathable, and easier to clean. China and Taiwan are the leading supplier of synthetic leather worldwide. Nike also uses real leather that is LWG certified. Nike is one of the worlds largest users of white leather and teams up with tanners, suppliers, and other distributers to be most efficient. Nike does not believe in harvesting leather from animals in the amazon because they believe that it is contributing to the deforestation but before 2011 they were using leather taken from the Amazon. Nike gets their leather from tanners and suppliers in China and Vietnam. Nike uses 1,500 different material vendors, suppliers, and companies. All the companies that they buy from are independent businesses.