Vivobarefoot is one of the winners of Arizona-based Footprint Foundation’s 2021 Ocean Hero Awards, which recognize innovative champions that are positively affecting the environment on a global scale. Vivobarefoot was honored with an Innovative Engineering Award “for developing the first footwear made from algae, a renewable aquatic resource.” Footprint, a sustainable technology firm specializing in materials science engineering, announced the six award recipients during its third annual Ocean Hero Awards ceremony on Feb. 2.

Besides Vivobarefoot, the other winners for 2021 include: Daily Harvest (Customer Award), GloriAnn Farms (Customer Award), Sambazon (Customer Award), Sweetgreen (Customer and Social Impact Award), and The Ocean Cleanup (Innovative Engineering Award). Based in Gilbert, Arizona, Footprint was founded by former Intel engineers Troy Swope and Yoke Chung. The company, which employs more than 1,200 people, develops and manufactures biodegradable, recyclable and compostable technologies with the goal of eliminating single-use and short-term plastics.