Footwear Insight

14 • Footwear Insight ~ June 2021 footwearinsight.com Climate Conscious Innovation Shoe Brands Are Working Wonders with Natural and Recyclable Materials. By Suzanne Blecher T wisted X CEO Prasad Reddy's respect for the earth traces back to his childhood. So, in 2012, when he read "Plastic Ocean" by Charles Moore, about plastic being strewn into the ocean, it lit a fuse. "Six years ago, I found this gentleman who was making blankets out or recycled plastic water bottles and donating them to third world countries. I reached out to him and eventually started to do it for Twisted X," he commented. Each pair of Twisted X shoes made from its ecoTWX upper material removes about 13 plastic water bottles from landfills and oceans. According to Reddy, ecoTWX is about equal in performance to other textiles traditionally used in footwear. Cotton is added in with the recycled content to provide strength. An independent interlocking, double- stitching system allows for no glue construction in Twisted X's new Zero-X collection. Bamboo laces are created from safely harvested bamboo. Rice husk outsoles are created with an agricultural rice husk blend. The new BioSole midsoles are made from biofuels (castor bean oil), sourced from a chemical manufacturer that Reddy has had a longstanding relationship with. While COVID-19 did cause some challenges for Twisted X, as it did for other footwear firms, the brand was never forced to stop production due to lack of materials. The brand is one of many finding creative ways to keep the focus on sustainability. Regeneration and Reinvention Timberland has essentially built a regenerative leather supply chain from the ground up to source the material for offerings like the GreenStride Solar Wave EK+, which also features GreenStride comfort soles made from sugar cane and natural rubber. "Sourcing traceable leather from regenerative cattle ranches was not a simple task," Zack Angelini, senior manager of environmental stewardship said. Smaller scale regenerative leather suppliers are very decentralized. The firm leaned on partners including Other Half Processing SBC, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed and Savory Institute for guidance. "By working in harmony with nature, regenerative cattle ranching helps draw carbon out of the atmosphere and store it in the soil where it belongs," the exec noted. By 2030, the brand aims to design 100 percent of its natural materials from regenerative agriculture. In efforts to build the world's first regenerative rubber supply chain for the footwear industry, Timberland is also partnering with Terra Genesis International. A pilot of Timberland's first product line with regenerative rubber is slated for 2023. Hot Commodity Vionic has a hot commodity on its hands with its Beach collection. "These styles are so popular that we just can't keep them in stock!" piped Marisa Byrne, director of design for the shoe firm during a recent press preview. The pastel palette of slip-on and lace-up canvas sneakers are vegan certified, employ Better Cotton Initiative cotton and have a sustainable 80/20 rubber/ soybean-based compound outsole. To Timberland GreenStride Solar Wave EK+ Collection SUSTAINABILITY

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