How do you optimise the experience in a running store? And how do you bring innovation, reuse, sustainability and design together in one concept?
Those questions marked the starting point for the project with retail chain and running specialist Runnersworld Eindhoven. The result is The Loop: a store interior in which old running shoes quite literally get a second life – not as an abstract sustainability story, but as visible and tangible material in walls, furniture and floors.
Each year, vast numbers of running shoes are discarded, even though they still largely consist of high-quality materials such as foam, rubber and textiles. After use, they usually end up in landfill, despite retaining much of their material value.
As Sil Kunst (Runnersworld) puts it:
“So much footwear is simply thrown away, while the material is actually perfectly recyclable.”
This became the starting point for the retail concept The Loop. It was first implemented at Runnersworld Eindhoven: the first store to be redesigned according to Runnersworld’s new retail concept.
Materiaal is een onuitputtelijke bron van kleur, licht, vorm en toepassing. Ontdek de mogelijkheden.
The collaboration between FastFeetGrinded, Runnersworld, Swooda, Soboçan and Pyrasied resulted in a first within circular retail design.
The foundation of the circular retail concept lies with Runnersworld, while shoe recycling originates with FastFeetGrinded. Years ago, they developed the world’s first recycling installation for footwear. This system carefully separates all materials that make up a (running) shoe – rubber, foam, leather and textiles – so they can be reused.
The project began small – no bigger than a grain of shoe – but grew into a completely new circular material: Versato Pebbles. The shoe was no longer seen as waste, but as a raw material for new solutions.
The panels were fabricated by Soboçan, a specialist interior builder. Based on Runnersworld’s wishes, they translated the Versato Pebbles material into a clean, precisely executed interior.
The shoe granulate was further developed by Pyrasied into the new solid surface material Versato Pebbles. It’s a fully circular sheet material available in various colours, thicknesses and finishes.
Its visible grain structure makes the origin of the material legible. The material does not hide its past; it makes it part of its identity.
Because Versato Pebbles is a completely new material, the project involved intensive experimentation. Key questions without fixed answers included:
As a result, the design adapted to the material, not the other way around.
Through close collaboration and extensive testing, an application emerged that reveals both the strengths and the limits of the material.
At Runnersworld Eindhoven, recycled shoes can literally be found everywhere. In wall panels and furniture. Combined with wood, glass and Runnersworld blue, deliberately chosen to match the brand identity, this created a light, open and functional retail environment.
The store’s function was also redefined. With an indoor running track, coffee seating and lounge areas, the store is not just a point of sale but a place where runners come together. Even the coffee tables feature Versato Pebbles tabletops.
“The social character of a store like this really comes through, and that’s what makes the concept special,” says Sil. “It should become a meeting place for runners, not just a shop.”
Materiaal is een onuitputtelijke bron van kleur, licht, vorm en toepassing. Ontdek de mogelijkheden.
Sustainability is not limited to the visible sheet material. Other interior components were also consciously selected, such as wall finishes made from recycled felt.
Entrepreneurs invested many extra euros purely to consistently implement sustainable choices, a clear signal of how seriously Runnersworld takes its sustainability ambitions.
Not every part of the interior is yet made from recycled materials, but the ambition is clear. As Sil puts it:
“The most important thing is to make as much as possible from recycled materials. We’re not at 100% yet, but that’s where we want to go.”
Runnersworld Eindhoven is the first store fully designed according to the The Loop concept. Over the coming years, the concept will be rolled out nationwide to ten locations across the Netherlands, giving circular material use a visible and scalable platform.
Sil Kunst on the broader ambition:
“In everything we do, every action and collaboration, sustainability is part of it. It’s embedded in everything we stand for.”
With The Loop, Runnersworld shows that circular materials can be much more than a good story: they become branding, ambition and identity.
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