footwearinsight.com March/April 2019 ~ Footwear Insight • 23
and 30 percent of the upper.
"Cork is one of the most sustainable materials on the planet, " says Jacqueline Van
Dine, VP of merchandising for Birkenstocks Americas. "We believe our vegan consum-
ers respect this about Birkenstock and are seeking more options to connect with us."
Sole introduced its own styles with Bloom this year, vegan flip-flops with cork foo-
beds and knit uppers. For fall, Osness says, the line will include rice rubber, recycled
PET, Bloom foam and recycled Polygiene silver — and it will only expand from there.
"For Spring '20 and Fall '20 we are really taking a deep dive into our eco story to
make sure every element of every new style has a sustainability story and most
Native / Audrey / MSRP $55
Arcopedico / LS (left) and
Net 8 boot / MSRP $105 and $125
Teva / Original Universal / MSRP $50
OluKai / Ho'Opio / MSRP $65
will be vegan as well," he says. "For uppers we are
exploring organic hemp, 100 percent recycled PET,
mushroom leather, grape skin leather, low-impact and
recycled acrylics and tree and plant-based textiles.
These will be combined with our Recork 100 percent
post-consumer recycled cork footbeds and midsoles
and either Bloom algae foam or rice rubber outsole
to create the most sustainable, eco conscious and
largely vegan collection on the market." l
