Sampla

Useful information

Team members: Finbarr Power
Country: Ireland
Keywords: Sustainable Footwear Ethically crafted from Apple in Europe Reforestation Vegan Unisex Minimalism Ireland Italy Portugal

Short Description

Timeless unisex footwear, ethically crafted using apples in Europe. A tree planted with each pair.

Detailed Description

We’ve begun producing unisex footwear that’s made ethically from premium animal-friendly materials as well as giving back to our environment with each pair produced.

Rethinking classic tennis shoes, the upper material of our shoes are made from a
vegan material called appleskin™ (made from repurposed apple waste from
the juice industry in Italy). The soles are made from a combination of natural crepe rubber as well as recycled EVA from the automotive industry in France and can be resoled. The laces are made from organic cotton.

100% of the components are manufactured in Europe where we consciously chose recycled and organic materials where possible.

Partnering with Trees On The Land we are also able to plant an indigenous tree
in Ireland for each pair produced. To keep carbon emissions as low as possible,
our logistics partner sends our shoes using the most optimal route for each
delivery. They are neatly packed and sent in our 0% plastic packaging.

Nice, simple and sustainable.

Project Details

Does your design take social and cultural challenges and human wellbeing into consideration?: The majority of the shoe is made using reused materials. The insoles are made
from recovered PU leftovers from the European automotive industry. The upper of
the shoe is made from using waste (apple Pulp) from the juice industry. It has been estimated that the world wastes more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food each year, so we are delighted to be using materials that would otherwise have gone straight to landfill
and release methane gas into the atmosphere. We're also very proud to have created a stylish, vegan, unisex shoe that's 100% animal friendly as it's estimated that 1 billion animals are killed in the leather industry every single year.

Does your design support sustainable production, embodying circular or regenerative design practices?: 87% of the world’s footwear being manufactured in developing countries, often in
factories with no human rights standards and no accountability. From the very
beginning, we have made ethical practices part of our core tenets. We’re proud to
say that all components of our footwear are made in Europe. We are proud that our shoes are made in workshops, not sweatshops. It’s
important to us that everyone involved would get a fair wage and have a
comfortable working environment with humane working hours. We contacted a
small family-owned, traditional artisan shoe workshop based on the suburbs of
Porto, Portugal. The small factory also gives us the possibility to build
relationships and personally get to know the artisans on the production floor. The
experienced team has a great eye for every little detail and carefully crafts each
shoe with precision. The soles of our footwear are constructed in a cup sole, encouraging the shoes to be resoled and reused promoting a circular design.

Does your design use principles of distribution and open source?: We've been conscious about how our shoes are delivered to your doorstep. We have partnered with a fulfilment centre located near to where our footwear is produced in Portugal. They estimate the most efficient route for each individual delivery. This reduces our carbon footprint even lower. To further reduce packaging we've created a shoebox that will double as a delivery box. The packaging is sourced by a local manufacturer and is made from a single die-cut of recycled and recyclable cardboard and we can assure the packaging contains 0% plastic.

Does your design promote awareness of responsible design and consumption?: We wanted to create a timeless piece of unisex footwear that appeals to those who live an environmentally conscious, minimal lifestyle.
Taking a utilitarian design approach, we put quality and construction at the forefront while also taking inspiration from classic tennis silhouettes of the seventies and eighties. The sleek, clean-lined aesthetic, crossed the divide from sports shoe to dress shoe and can now be dressed with anything. This was essential to us as it helps reduce needless consumerism by maximising versatility across outfits. Simple, functional and timeless. We are planting an indigenous tree for every pair of shoe crafted. For this, we are teaming up with Trees on the Land. The trees will be planted at selected sites in
Ireland. The footwear and packaging are GRS certified (Appleskin™), GOTS certified (Organic Cotton), FSC-PEFC CERTIFIED (Packaging).