Footwear company SOLE and recycled cork producer ReCORK have launched a campaign to source funds to make the ‘world’s first carbon-negative footwear’.
Launched yesterday (29 October), the 30-day campaign, ‘ReCORK: Imagine Carbon Negative Footwear’, aims to raise $150,000 (£93,000) in donations through the crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter. The money will then be used to ‘fund the moulds and first production run of the carbon-negative shoes’.
Carbon-negative shoes
According to SOLE, rather than offsetting the carbon footprint of making shoes, it aims to make carbon-negative shoes that ‘take more carbon out of the atmosphere then they generate’.
This is reportedly being achieved through using recycled products, and by re-planting trees (specifically, cork trees), which act as a ‘carbon sink’. To date, ReCORK has supported the planting of 8,000 new cork oak trees and collected over 45 million corks for recycling.
The Kickstarter campaign will fund two pieces of footwear: ‘Grace’, a ballet flat for women, and ‘Tour’, a ‘casual everyday shoe for men’. Both designs will include a 100 per cent recycled cork footbed ‘that contours to the unique shape of each person’s foot’, and a 100 per cent recycled cork midsole. Neither shoe will contain any ‘direct’ petroleum-based material inputs.
A range of incentives are being offered to those who donate to the project, from cork fabric drawstring backpacks, to a flight (carbon offset) to Portugal to see the cork trees being planted.
Anyone donating over $99 (£61) will receive a pair of Grace and Tour shoes when they are produced (retail value $130 (£81)).
Launching the funding campaign, Mike Baker, Founder and CEO of SOLE, said: “Making carbon negative footwear will be no small feat but we’re ready to share our idea and prove its worth.
“We have completed an environmental assessment of our operational CO2 footprint from the initial cork collection to the production of the footwear. Added to the CO2 sink associated with our cork tree planting efforts, we have determined we are actually carbon-negative.
“We are a relatively small, young business that needs help from like-minded individuals and investors to get this project off the ground. I’m a great believer in Kickstarter crowd funding and really hope we can raise the capital we need to get our plans underway.”
The funding campaign is open until 28 November.
Find out more about ReCORK.
Get our weekly digest
resource.co article ai
How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.