Entrepreneur's bright idea for used F1 tyres

A man from Bath who started a shoe business from his bedroom now has his designs worn by an Formula 1 driver.

- Abigail Nicholson

Compound Footwear founder Alex Witty, 27, was studying for a BSC in sustainable product design at the University of Brighton, and when the labs shut down during the Covid lockdowns, he converted his bedroom into a workshop.

He set up panini presses to melt and test unconventional materials such as ocean plastics, seaweed and coffee to create shoes. Once lockdown had lifted, he travelled the world for shoemaking courses, meetings and talks after coming up with the idea to create trainers with soles made from discarded Formula One and motorsport racing tyres.

He met with potential collaborators and started the research and development stage of the business by raising over £100k via UK grants and private investment. He is now working closely with motorsport teams including McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and BMW, as well as Pirelli.

Alex said: "I wasn't exactly flatmate of the year. I learned that 24 billion shoes are made every year, while around 1.5 billion tyres are used globally. When tyres reach the end of their life, they are generally incinerated at concrete factories as an alternative source of fuel.