The Circular Sneaker Race Continues!
Episode 3 of The shegotgame Podcast features an inside look at building an ethical brand.
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Good afternoon friends and strangers!
Libra season is coming through strong, restoring balance as the White House is now apparently a case study on how to best spread infectious diseases during a pandemic. Also: did you know there’s only 28 days until the US election? Have you registered to vote or voted early? Let’s all manifest this Kamala Harris energy for November 3rd.
Speaking of California, it’s Monday which means the third instalment of The shegotgame Podcast, I had to the chance to chat with Landon Nash, the founder of Tact & Stone, a sustainable menswear brand based in Los Angeles.
Tact & Stone offers great essentials and I discovered the brand when I was styling MLB MVP Christian Yelich for the All-Star game red carpet. I chose to have Yelich wear Tact & Stone’s Ize Hemp Tee (which saves 84 gallons of water) as his non-profit California Strong, provides financial and beneficial aid to individuals and groups in California affected by natural disasters or other tragic and extraordinary events.
Nash gives us a great overview of how he started his brand through deep diving into research and networking, the importance of messaging in sustainable fashion and how materials like hemp can transform apparel. Our chat feels a little like a masterclass on how to create an ethical clothing brand! Listen above through SoundCloud or at one of the links below.
Anchor (additional listening platforms available here)
Salomon goes Circular with the INDEX.01
Fall is officially circular season! French sporting good brand Salomon announced their updated concept for the recyclable running shoe with the INDEX.01. Salomon originally began developing the circular concept in 2018 based on the idea of a recycling in which a running shoes becomes a ski boot later in its lifecycle. Salomon announced in 2019 that they were developing this circular concept for performance footwear, originally planning to make the sneaker fully out of TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane). What’s interesting here is that adidas’ FUTURECRAFT.LOOP uses one material as well (except for some finishing) - BASF's BOOST which is made from TPU. But TPU knit is proving to be somewhat difficult for both comfort and color - you know when your BOOST outsoles turn a little yellow? That’s oxidization.
However in Salomon’s case, their team pivoted to a different material composition using a recycled plastic (RPET) mesh knit upper - a common thread (GET IT?!?) in eco-friendly footwear. The midsole is INFINIRIDE - a TPU-based nitrogen-infused material that is apparently both responsive and comfortable, along with a TPU outsole. This allows the company to simply clean the customer’s old shoes then separate the upper from the rest of the shoe for recycling. From a design perspective, it’s neat to see the camber and shape of their powder skis on a running shoe to really tie into not only the performance story of a gliding run but also involves the original concept of turning a sneaker in a boot.
The video they released above does a great job of explaining circular production and how their shoes will be worn, recycled and repurposed and calls out that recycling will be done in local regions as to help cut down on the massive carbon footprint that comes from shipping products.
The INDEX.01 is already available for pre-registration for pairs that will ship in spring 2021 - although no price has been announced, ahead of On Running’s CYCLON model which is expected to ship in Fall 2021 for $29.99 USD. One of the first to a major press launch was adidas - but their FUTURE.CRAFT LOOP still hasn’t begun taking pre-orders but as of November 2019 was slotted for a mid-2021 release date for the general public. Will Salomon win the circular sneaker race, or will another new brand or big competitor (where are Nike, Asics, New Balance?) overtake them?
The Off-White Footwear Trend Continues!
And no, I’m not talking about Off-White designer Virgil Alboh - but instead more collections of “natural” sneakers are on the scene. Merrell, the Michigan-based company best known for their hiking boots announced their new Undyed Collection, an all-white and ivory hued group of sneakers. The five colorless models claim to use 80% less water and 50% less energy on average than Merrell’s standard colored shoes and are “made clean to get dirty”.
In terms of their own material make-up, there are plenty of recycled materials including partially recycled mesh uppers, recycled laces, partially recycled lining, EVA foam midsoles and natural rubber Vibram outsoles. The line includes a trail runner - the MTL Skyfire for men and women for $110, a men’s and women’s minimalist shoe - the Vapor glove for $90, and the mens’s only Agility Synthesis 2 which has a recycled jacquard upper instead of recycled mesh for $120.
Merrell also claims that the sneakers are made using more environmentally friendly production practices, but I don’t see any specific call outs besides using less raw materials - which is certainly a start. Aesthetically they’re not fully my cup of tea but the Skyfire does look cool dirty (pictured above) although getting wet in mesh shoes is never a super fun experience - the saturated tones of the natural rubber do provide at least some contrast to the stark white sneakers.
Extra Credit:
When I was in high school, one of the books that really shifted my perspective was No Logo by fellow Canadian Naomi Klein. The book came out in 1999 and focusses on branding and the anti-globalization movement. Klein went after major brands and advertising agencies who put more of a premium on their brand image (and we now call engagement) rather than their products and more importantly - the people who manufacture their goods. It might not seem completely in keeping with my work with mega brands but critical discourse is essential to innovation. When Klein attacked Nike for their sweatshop use, the swoosh came back a point by point statement - but customers finally saw a peek behind the brand and started demanding better of their companies. If we don’t learn from our past mistakes - how can the new sustainable fashion frontier be truly ethical? When I reflect on what I learned from Klein, I can see her influence in my own obsession with transparency in production and intentional design and storytelling as well as focussing on people over product.
Klein has a new book out “On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal” which I’m excited to read (book club anyone?) but I may pick up No Logo again to see how certain aspects may have changed or evolved in the age of the personal brand.
Would you buy into a subscription-based recyclable shoe? Or do you prefer to buy something that lasts forever that uses recycled or natural materials? Let me know what you think! You can submit a voice message to the podcast here or leave a comment on the Substack post.
Stay safe and stay true,
Megan
@shegotgame
PS. Be sure to follow along on Twitter and Instagram for more and check out my website at MeganAnnWilson.com.