A newly unveiled shoe gives new meaning to the term ‘repurpose’. The world’s first biodegradable shoe can actually be planted in your backyard and will sprout into a patch of wildflowers. The Dutch Oat Shoe company is using innovative biodegradable technology combined with style to make sporty shoes that leave no mark on the environment when they are thrown away. The sole of the shoe is made of a flexible cork that is embedded with seeds. The Oat Shoe company spent two years researching the ecological properties of materials and visiting several factories before coming up with the biodegradable sneaker. The shoe won second prize at the Green Fashion Awards during the Amsterdam International Fashion week last month. Oat will debut its collection this spring in Europe with a limited 900 piece run that the company hopes will expand to other countries. Oat’s mission is to connect people with their environment in an imaginative way. Founder and designer Christiaan Maats tells Ecouterre “We all like the nice bits of fashion so why not make those bits biodegradable? You can call it a vintage-killer, but you leave something much better behind: a tree, flowers, or even a cotton plant that provides you with your new shirt”.