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the number of inhabitants on our planet is constantly growing and has tripled from 2.5 billion in 1950 to today. to compensate for today’s consumption of resources, we need 1.6 earths. if the resource consumption of germany were the norm, three earths would be needed.
our textiles and shoes also contribute to this. we buy twice as much as we did just a few years ago and we have a lot of almost unworn clothes in our wardrobes, attics and cellars.
our answer: buy less, but better. change from the linear model of a throwaway culture towards a circular economy that takes fair working conditions and environmental protection into account. this is only possible when the products are of such high quality that it is worthwhile to take them back and return them to the production cycle.
after your shoes have been send in or returned to one of our shops, they are collected centrally and are transported to portugal as pallet freight in one of the often-underutilised trucks.
in portugal, the upper part is detached from the sole in a special mechanical process and both materials are prepared for recycling. according to our production needs, they are stored near our office and production site - 20 km away from porto.
the leather scraps are used to make heel and cap reinforcements. the recovered yarn is used again to make a woven upper. the sole rubber is prepared to be reused for sole production. with the help of a calender, the rubber is recycled again into perfectly usable sole material.
for our recycling processes we completely avoid chemical treatments – as a matter of principle and without exception. your old shoes become new ones and the cycle starts again.
different material groups are separated and reused for sole production:
1. pure natural rubber
2. rubber with natural additives such as textile and cork
3. rubber with synthetic additives such as recycled neoprene suits
these material groups are always used for different shoe models and never get mixed.
dirty textiles are reused in sole or midsole production. clean textile goes into textile recycling. the yarn produced there is used by the weaving mill we partner with, to produce 100% recycled fabrics again for the upper material of new shoes.
the total amount of brass - eyelets, shoelace ends - that we have been able to collect over all these years, is unfortunately still not enough for the accepted minimum quantity at the metal recycling company (50kg). but when the time finally comes, your rivets and shoelace sheets will also be made into sheet metal again. locally in portugal.
together with the outdoor specialist from southern germany, we have produced three shoe models in a closed loop: organic cotton from certified organic cultivation, chrome-free tanned leather, recycled natural rubber and cork for the soles. and when the shoes can't be repaired any more, we take them back at our stores to recycle them.
