Green ≠ Giving Up Feel
What kind of partnership gets us genuinely hyped? It’s the kind where the team has a vision, sweats the details, and actually trusts the tech. That’s Hylo Athletics in a nutshell.
This UK-based brand was founded by a former Premier League footballer, and they don’t mess around. Their motto? “Run Like The World Depends On It.” Sounds bold, but they’re serious; they’re making shoes with bio-based materials, shipping in recycled packaging, and tracking carbon emissions as part of the product itself.
They’re not hopping on the green trend; they’re treating responsibility like it belongs in the blueprint.
So here’s the big question: Can ECO shoes actually perform?
Honestly, this was the challenge we felt right away. A lot of so-called sustainable shoes out there feel… just okay. Not bad, but definitely not made for serious runners. Common issues?
- Midsoles that flatten out fast
- No real bounce
- And sometimes, just plain unstable after a few kilometers
Hylo came to us because they didn’t want to pick a side. They wanted a running shoe that’s fast and green. They wanted to shatter the outdated belief that “eco” means “settling.”
Enter Spark: Rethinking Performance from the Midsole Out
We built a custom midsole for Hylo using supercritical foaming tech. What does that mean? Picture high pressure and heat pushing materials to their absolute limits, creating an ultra-fine foam structure. The payoff?
Backed by Data: Bio-Based Foam That Cracked the Top 10
And Hylo’s shoes don’t just feel great; they test great too. Heeluxe—the same lab that’s run performance tests for ASICS, HOKA, and Adidas—measured our energy return, and boom: top 10% of all samples tested.
Keep in mind, this isn’t all petrochemical foam. It’s a 50% bio-based midsole.
For us, that’s huge. It proves something we’ve believed for a while; sustainable materials don’t have to play catch-up anymore.
People often associate “sustainability” with softness, gentleness, or a lack of edge. What we’re building with Hylo is something else entirely — a new combo: light, springy, durable, and clean. All in one shoe.
Long-Term Wear Test: 1000 Miles Later, Still Going Strong
This isn’t ad copy. It’s real-world data from Hylo runners. After clocking over 1000 miles, the midsole still held up. The outsole wore down, sure, but the feel? Still rock solid. And that’s the metric we care about most.
At Spark, this wasn’t just about making another product. It was about proving a belief; when sustainability stops being a compromise, it becomes the next evolution of performance.
A Meeting Room, and the Sound of Long-Term Thinking
Every meeting with Hylo feels like a mini future summit. During a recent visit to our factory, we sat down in a meeting room surrounded by blueprints for upcoming models and dove into midsole formulations.
Jorma, their Co-Founder and Product Director, laid out a clear long-term strategy. Each midsole will be tuned for specific uses — adjusting for bounce, firmness, and bio-content depending on the need. They’re not just making a shoe; they’re building a sustainable performance ecosystem. That clarity helps us, as a materials partner, design with real purpose.
Senior Product Manager Nat brought another lens to the table — ESG data. He walked us through how Hylo uses Worldly to monitor power, water, and carbon across the production process, and invited us to join the data stream.
What’s Worldly?
Worldly is a sustainability data platform tailored for brands, manufacturers, and retailers. It’s widely used in footwear, apparel, home goods, and toys. It helps track supply chain impact and brings ESG metrics into the real world.
For us, it wasn’t just about ticking boxes. It made us rethink what “manufacturing” even means. It’s not just output; it’s a response — to the planet, to the customer, and to how the next product gets shaped.
A Shoe Story, Written Together
Looking back, this project with Hylo was never just about building a good running shoe. It felt more like a duet — their vision, our materials; their definition of sustainability, our tools to bring it to life.
To us, a great partnership doesn’t ask anyone to play small. It’s about helping each other level up.
Hylo’s shoes are already out on the road. And Spark? We’ll keep pushing the foam behind the scenes — building shoes that go further, last longer, and feel better. Runners may be the ones moving forward, but we know every kilometer tells a story worth sharing.
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