Sustainable Footwear

When people think about sustainable fashion, most would consider the materials their garments are made from, or perhaps the packaging it came in. What about the shoes we wear?

"In 2006, the US consumed 2,403,137,000 pairs of shoes

The worldwide per capita footwear is almost 2.6 pairs in 2005, although the US per

capita was 6.7 pairs annually

Researchers have estimated footwear consumption to double every 20 years"

The environmental impacts associated with footwear are predominantly in the manufacture of the component of the shoe, where chemical processes during the manufacturer of leather, synthetic materials and textiles pollute the water.

Eco Friendly Shoes

There are alternative choices.

We were given the opportunity to try out Natural World eco friendly shoes. Made in Spain, these sustainable shoes are made from 100% natural materials (e.g. organic cotton and natural rubber), and recycled materials (e.g. recycled rubber from tires). 

"we don’t use polluting products, we don’t emit toxic gases, we don’t spill toxic fluid, and we also promote environmental conservation by using biodegradable and recyclable substances."

Made In Green Certification

What I like about Natural World is that all their products come with Made In Green certification. Products with the certification are:

I originally thought that I could key in the product ID and trace the journey of my shoe from the materials to where it was pieced together.  Unfortunately, the product ID on our shoes were for internal tracking only - it was a little disappointing because it would have been a major plus to see where our shoes had been.

How Do They Fare?

My partner chose the Blucher Suede Brown while I selected Basket Enzimatico Beige.  

One thing that surprised us was the bubble gum smell - I wasn't expecting that!  

My partner's feet are extremely wide and prone to fungal growth because the hot weather here tends to make his feet sweaty. Here's his verdict on the shoes (in his own words) 

"Very comfortable with a lot of room for the toes, and considering we are in Singapore, the fleece does not make my feet sweat. "  

Unfortunately for me, the sizing was a little off. I wear EUR39, but with these my toes were up against the uppers, which was rather unfortunate. However, I do look forward to passing them onto my kid considering he's a size EUR37 now!

Disclaimer: This was a sponsored post. All views are my own.

Deadly Fashion - What should we do?

I think most of you would know of the Norwegian reality TV series called Sweatshop - Deadly Fashion. It's a reality show I would not mind watching - fashion lovers (or shopaholics?) are sent to experience working in a Cambodian textile factory for a month. They are taken away from their creature comforts and get to see and feel what a textile worker goes through. 

My friend asked what we can do as consumers.

We are over here and the factory workers are miles away. So I replied " The reason why this happens is because the fashion industry now works on a "fast fashion" business model, where new lines come out every 2 - 3 weeks (vs the previous every quarter). So you can imagine the intense pressure to meet those deadlines. On top of that, the industry wants to maximise profit. The best thing to do (IMO) is only buy when you need it (no impulse buying!). In fact, other industries run on a similar model to cut down the time to market, like Apple."  According to a European Union briefing document on workers' working conditions, "The customers of garment producers are most often global brands looking for low prices and tight production timeframes. They also make changes to product design, product volume, and production timeframes, and place last-minute orders without accepting increased costs or adjustments to delivery dates. The stresses of such policies usually fall on factory workers." This is very much the fast-fashion model that is now part of our lives. 


So, the best thing is to buy only what you need, pretty much like what our parents did in their youth.  The next thing is to mend your clothes, and of course upcycle them. 

It just so happened that someone posted a video of old Hong Kong (1960s) on Facebook and there was a scene of child labourers. A friend commented that having experienced child labour back then, he didn't have any hard feelings about it (and didn't think those who experienced did).

 "As far as I can remember, children under 18 were not allowed to work in any workplace back then. In the 60-70 era when HK was booming, many factory workers voluntarily worked overtime to earn more. They got 50% premium pay after the statutory 8-hour-day limit. And for many exceptionally hardworking workers they might privately compromise with their boss to work even longer. And I think that's how and why HK economy was skyrocketing those days."   

I was a little disturbed by the comment - should we value money over people's lives? At least the people in his comment had the choice not to work beyond those hours and could seek respite via the courts. Today, in countries where most of today's garments are made, work is done in unsafe conditions (worse than those in the reality show), they work longer hours, have no rights, and many have no formal contract with their employer. What's more, many do not earn a liveable wage - in Cambodia, the minimum wage for garment workers was increased from USD75 to USD100 but still remains insufficient to cover the workers' basic needs. In fact, we are looking at an increase to USD177, which I think some major brands have agreed to. 

So when we really do need to buy clothes (or in fact anything that is manufactured in developing countries), let's ask ourselves who made them. We should value lives whether they work in a factory to make our clothes or gadgets, or help us keep our streets clean - what makes our lives worth more than theirs? 

[Afternote: Does anyone know where we can give a little pressure to our fast fashion retailers?]