Leather and denim sandals by begoodesigns
begoodesigns makes use of excess leather from other manufacturing processes and turns it into stylish products such as the sandals as shown. These are the leather and denim model and are made from recycled cream leather upper and insole lined with denim.
begoodesigns sources excess materials and claims a massive 99% of inputs are excess leather. Rather than seeing this going to waste it is being turned into stylish eco-friendly products. In addition, 100% of their waste is reused. By producing smaller producs such as jewellery they ensure nothing goes in the bin. And what doesn’t go into their products is used as packaging which also means 100% of the packaging is made from excess fabric.
More details at the begoodesigns website.
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MBT Chapa GTX Pumpkin sports shoe
MBT or Masai Barefoot Technology have a range of sports and casual shoes and sandals. The featured shoe is the Chapa GTX Pumpkin sports shoe that uses their patented technology based on the Masai walking tribe from Africa. There are a range of benefits to using these shoes including improved gait and posture, increased toning of the legs when walking because they help to use neglected muscles and reduced stresses on the knees and hips.
Better still, the company has a very strong corporate responsibility program. Footwear manufacturers have received a lot of bad publicity and MBT addresses each of these concerns on their website. They support the International Labor Organization’s efforts and have established their own code of conduct covering issues such as forced or convict labour, child labour, remuneration and maximum working hours.
From an environmental perspective, their boxes are made from cardboard and designed such that they don’t require any glues or staples and are fully recyclable. Shoes are shipped with an environmentally firendly picro-pack patch to reduce bacteria and mould. They operate a clean manufacturing facility in Korea, keeps harmful emmissions to a minimum and doesn’t use chemicals with benzene structures. Finally, they use chrome-tanned leather to produce a strong, flexible product using the most energy and water efficient method.
The full range of MBT shoes can be seen on their website.
Reef Recycler Sandals
Reef are aware of their influence in the surf industry and as such support surfers who are environmentally conscious and strive to make products from sustainable materials. Some of them are in the range of sandals. One in the range is the Rob Machado Classic sandal and another one is the Reef Recycler. As the name suggests, recycled products are used in the construction of these sandals.
Recycled PET upper and lower thread, a 51% recycled compression molded eva outside and a 51% post industrial eva footbed. So they are not made from 100% recycled materials, however, greater than 50% is better than nothing isn’t it? Grab the Rob Machado ones if you prefer.
See the full details at the Reef website.
adidas Grün Shoes
adidas are following in the footsteps of Nike. Yes the pun was intended. They now have an eco-friendly range of footwear and apparel released under the Grün label. Shown is their ZX 500 shoe for runners and they cater to other sports and casual wear as well. They follow the three guidelines of “Made From”, “Recycled” and “Reground” when developing these models.
All raw materials have been considered and across the range you will find recycled PET, chromium-free leather, cotton and jute, plus recycled EVA and rubber for the inner and outer soles. Rice husks and cork details are featured on some models. Plus they have considered the environment with their packaging so as to minimise the impact.
The range is widely available and more information at the adidas website.
Rob Machado Classic Sandal By Reef
If you know anything about the surfer Rob Machado then you know he would only put his name to a product that he genuinely believes in and its manufacturer would cause little harm to the environment. The Rob Machado Classic sandal from Reef is his signature sandal and part of the Reef Redemption line.
This sandal features chrome free nubuck leather, indgeo fiber embroidery stitching and webbing reinforcement and 100% recycled car tire rubber outsoles. What makes this product a calss about many other so-called eco-friendly products is that even the cement that holds things together (and isn’t seen) is water based. Pretty much everything comes from sustainable materials.
In fact the entire line of Reef Redemption poducts use sustainable materials such as foam made from corn and potato cellulose and recycled rubber.
More information about the Rob Machado Classic sandal at the Reef website.
Simple Shoes
Simple Shoes, based in Santa Barbara, California, offers a few ranges of eco friendly footwear and other accessories. Their packaging is also eco friendly in that they ship some products in 100% biodegradeable bags. As they say on the website, dig it, bury it, buh-bye.Some of the raw materials in use are PET bottles, organic cotton, bamboo, recycled car tyres, crepe, jute, water based cememts and cork. For example, their ecoSNEAKS range ar made from recycled PET plastic bottles, organic cotton, recycled car tyres and water-based cements. There is also the green toe range with lots of hemp, natural crepe rubber and bamboo linings.For more information check out the Simple Shoes website.
