How Sokito Built The Most Sustainable Soccer Cleat

Forbes

2 days ago

T
Nottingham Forest player Ola Aina is one of Sokito's many player investors. He gets a say in the ... More design of the most sustainable soccer boot in the world.
he international soccer industry discards roughly 12.5 million cleats per year. It's one of soccer's many sustainability issues, and the one Sokito, a British start-up manufacturer, is looking to solve by creating the world's most sustainable soccer cleats.
Sokito launched in 2022 and has had two lines of cleats, the Devista and the Scudetta, both vegan-certified and made of mostly recycled materials such as carpet, bottles, wood fibers, and food waste (including beans, corn, and sugar cane). Traditional cleats use plastics and adhesives that can take thousands of years to decompose.
The company is focused on reducing soccer's environmental footprint while producing high-performance footwear. Winning both the Unisport and BootWizard 2024 Boot of the Year is a testament to the Sokito's ability to develop sustainable footwear while maintaining elite product quality. Despite the accolades, founder Jake Hardy says that often people's immediate response to being told about a sustainable soccer cleat line is to ask 'is it crap then?'
Former Angel City FC defender Jasmyne Spencer is a big advocate for sustainability and a Sokito ... More investor.
Still, there is a core group of believers in Sokito's mission. In just three years, the start-up has drawn investment from over 60 professional players, from both the men's and women's sides of the game. The first to invest was English journeyman John Bostock. Bostock then convinced Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong to invest. Sokito's investor list now includes Borussia Dortmund midfielder Felix Nmecha, former Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley, Nottingham Forest players Ola Aina and Harry Toffolo, and female stars Jasmyne Spencer, Sofie Junge Pedersen, and Didi Haracic.
Speaking about her investment in Sokito, Spencer said, 'We need more brands like Sokito to drive the conversation around sustainability in sport. I'm honored to join this growing community of athletes bringing the climate change conversation into the mainstream.'
Like basketball shoes, soccer cleats are no longer a mere tool of the craft. They have transformed into a fashion statement and a definition of playing style, and even values. Sokito offers players and consumers the chance to tie themselves to an elite product that strives for 'maximum impact on the pitch, not the planet.'
Ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Sokito worked with Troost-Ekong to design and launch an exclusive Nigerian green Scudetta model. Troost-Ekong admits, 'Sustainability wasn't really something I was aware of before Sokito.' He recalls his cleats attracting curiosity at the tournament, with fans and fellow players expressing interest in the brand, the design, and the messaging.
Nigeria lost the final to Côte d'Ivoire, but Troost-Ekong says, 'It was special to wear Sokito boots in the AFCON final. It was more meaningful than just playing well; it was a chance for me to leave a lasting impact, and it was a big kickstart for Sokito.' The cleat clearly resonated with fans, selling out in just days.
Since getting involved with Sokito, Troost-Ekong has furthered his climate change awareness. He recognizes the role soccer can play in amplifying awareness, noting, 'I think the biggest impact we can have is on the fanbase; using our stage to educate other people who might be on the same journey.'
In recognition of his work to use the power of soccer to raise awareness about climate change and specifically land degradation, drought, and desertification, in late May, Troost-Ekong was named the Sport4Land Champion of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
Sokito is the brainchild of British entrepreneur Jake Hardy. Like many English kids, Hardy fell in love with soccer at an early age. He played semi-professionally, but admits he had 'a massive, verging on weird, interest in shoes and football boots.'
At age 16, Hardy launched a small business selling vintage soccer cleats. He maintained it as he finished school and played semi-professionally. This was a time during which he recalls wearing a different pair of cleats to every game and cutting them apart to look at how they were made.
It wasn't until a trip to Vietnam that Hardy realized how his passion intersected with an industry issue. During his time in South East Asia, Hardy visited many tailor shops, seeing firsthand how shoes were made and how (many) old ones were discarded. Eventually, he convinced a tailor shop to make him a custom pair of cleats using scrap materials. The finished product was disappointing, but it caused Hardy to ask the question: Can I make sustainable, durable, high-performance soccer cleats?
Reflecting on the waste he realized soccer was creating, he says, 'I thought it was absolutely crazy that football, such a power for good, was contributing so much to the climate crisis. I thought football should be used as a force for good.' So, he turned his passion into his mission and spent six years developing his sustainable soccer cleat business before finally launching Sokito in 2022.
Three years into existence, Sokito has the development and production process controlled to the nth degree, a necessity for vegan certification. To achieve the certification every component of the shoe, plus the manufacturing site and the machinery, has to be checked to ensure there are no animal derivatives. The process takes weeks and a fee is required for registration.
Hardy says, 'I personally go into the main shoe production facility.' At the factory, every single component is personally audited. Sokito also looks at waste, power usage, how components are shipped from one factory to the next, and ensures all materials used for production are from recycled sources. As Hardy says, 'once it's in the shoe, there is no way to test that the material you bought is recycled,' adding, 'you really need to trust your supply chain.'
Sokito is also integrating a carbon emissions life cycle assessment per shoe produced into its annual non-financial accounting. At the time of writing, the final emissions data is under review by a third party.
Hardy says the development process for a new design takes between two and three years, which includes a three-month wear testing period. The timeline is industry standard, all the more impressive when considering that Sokito, currently an eight-person operation, is competing with the likes of Nike, Adidas, and Puma for soccer cleat hegemony.
Once the design is complete, production takes about one month to complete. Last year, Sokito produced 8,000 pairs, far fewer than Nike, which owns 49% of the played-in market, and Adidas, which has 37% of the market. However, this year Hardy expects to produce roughly 30,000 pairs, noting, 'our percentage growth is really strong.'
The entire production process (and vegan certification) is costly and time consuming. But Hardy says it's worth it because Sokito is 'trying to give the consumer a more ethical option.'
Not only is the cleat itself more ethical, its production and consumption create a virtuous circle of more awareness, more research, and therefore future production of even more sustainable shoes with more durable materials. As investor Tom Cleverly says, 'If a large group of people improve by a little then that's where we can have a big change.' Soccer is just the vehicle for spreading the word.
Ashley Westwood play and MLS game for Charlotte FC wearing the Sokito Scudetta.
Sokito's latest cleat, the Scudetta, is available in three colors: all black (obsidian), all white (ice), and white with a chili red trim. At $200, the cleat is pricey, but it is roughly 25% to 30% cheaper than other elite cleats on the market. Sokito cleats are available around the U.S. on soccer.com, and the manufacturer has secured deals to sell with local retailers on the West Coast and in Texas.
The company is taking inspiration from running upstarts On and Hoka, which have both cracked the mainstream in recent years. Sokito is already competing well against brands like New Balance and Mizuno, but the upstart manufacturer is looking to eclipse Adidas and Nike. As Hardy says, 'We want to get to a point where you walk into a premium football store and you have your Adidas wall, Nike wall, and Sokito wall [of cleats].'
With that in mind, at the same time that Sokito is producing one model (currently the Scudetta) it is researching five to six potential new materials and combinations to make its cleats more durable. It is also working to produce a kids range and lower-tier cleats that make the brand more accessible to different age groups and levels of play.
At the time of writing, Sokito is collaborating with Troost-Ekong and Ola Aina on potential color samples for another Sokito-AFCON exclusive boot. The company is also hoping the cleat will be seen at major tournaments like the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup and next summer's FIFA World Cup.
Contrary to the norms of capitalism, Sokito won't be churning out new models. Rather it will be researching more recycled materials that can stand the strain of professional soccer games for longer. Hardy says, 'We won't release another one [cleat] for the sake of it. We are doing things in a logical way, rather than mindlessly innovating for growth month on month.' He adds, 'It's about building the best possible product that lasts for the longest possible time.'
Building sports equipment made from recycled materials seems like a minor victory in the larger climate context, since after all a shoe made of cork, beans, and carpet won't stop a hurricane, nor will it directly lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, the Sokito brand is amplifying awareness about climate change in sports and is driving the push for circularity in footwear production.
As the beautiful game expands further into every corner of the globe, so do the product lines that underpin it. The adhesives and plastics currently used in cleats can take thousands of years to break down, but Sokito is changing that one boot at a time.