We’re looking forward to wearing our wine bottles (well, their stoppers, anyway) on our feet. Designed in Vancouver and launching this summer, District Open by SOLE is a collection of women’s sandals made from natural recycled cork (plus premium leather straps in seasonal colours). In speaking with company CEO Mike Baker, our main question (besides who gets to drink all that wine) was: can fashion be eco-conscious without sacrificing style? Check out his answer, below. —Noa Nichol
Tell us a bit about yourself and your company.
I was born and have grown up in Vancouver. I’ve always been interested in sport, design and innovation. After suffering a significant back injury I found what was under my feet made a major difference to how I was feeling. I set out to build a team that could help bring comfort and pain relief to as many people as possible. Ensuring that we’re helping people’s footsteps had to be balanced with ensuring our production has as small a footprint as possible. As such, we developed the ReCORK initiative that creates awareness on the virtues of natural cork and uses recycled natural corks as a primary input material in the products we make.
How is District by SOLE revolutionizing the footwear industry?
We are proud to be the first and only footwear brand that repurposes recycled natural corks as part of our products. The cork used in our products is recycled by ReCORK, which is North America’s largest wine cork recycling program. The program takes useful natural corks out of the waste stream and gives them a second life through it’s 100 per cent carbon-negative recycling process. This means that using ReCORK recycled cork actually improves the health of the environment and decreases our overall carbon footprint. We use cork because it’s the perfect natural alternative to environmentally harmful petroleum-based materials that are usually used in footwear production. With billions of shoes created worldwide every year, the footwear industry in general is notoriously wasteful and environmentally harmful. We are choosing to become more environmentally responsible by providing high-quality products that allow consumers more eco-friendly options. Because what we’re doing has never been done before, we have had to be extremely innovative and unafraid to break through barriers in order to create a product that we truly believe in. By creating with recycled cork, we hope to popularize and normalize the use of recycled post-consumer materials in the footwear industry and beyond.
So, the corks from our (many, many discarded) wine bottles can be used to make shoes? Please explain!
ReCORK has a network of thousands of partners across North America. This network includes public collection partners such as vineyards, private retailers, grocery stores and restaurants where the public can drop off their natural corks. To date, ReCORK has collected more than 77 million corks and now SOLE is using that recycled natural material in exciting new footwear and footbed collections. Recycled cork is ideal for use in footwear as it not only environmentally sustainable, but is also moisture-wicking, odour-reducing and has an elasticity that absorbs shock and allows it to mold to the wearer’s feet over time.
Besides the eco-friendly element, what other features do these luxury sandals boast?
District Open is a collection of modern sandals for women that feature premium leather straps in seasonal colours. Designed in Vancouver, each style is unique and showcases the footbed’s natural recycled cork material beautifully for footwear that complements every look. These sandals also feature industry leading orthopedic support built right in for footwear that improves your balance, posture and stability while reducing foot pain.
Can footwear (and other wardrobe staples) be simultaneously stylish and sensitive to Mother Nature?
Footwear can absolutely be eco-conscious without sacrificing style. The District Open collection and other exciting products soon to come from SOLE showcase this well by exploring the possibilities of using natural alternatives for environmentally harmful materials that are traditionally used in the production of footwear. There is not necessarily a stigma attached to eco-friendly fashion but rather a lack of education about why it’s important and how the choices that consumers make truly do make a difference. We believe in providing more responsible products as well as environmental education to consumers so that they can make informed decisions and choose to support brands that are daring to do business differently. By creating striking footwear made with your health and the environment in mind, SOLE is proving that it’s possible to get footwear that feels good, does good and looks good.
Why are you a proud Canadian producer?
We are an international team with our largest base in Canada. Canadians are uniquely positioned to have a global perspective and lens on everything from style, art and innovation to world affairs. We know that being Canadian provides us a balanced positioned from which to build products and companies that are healthy. To us this means ensuring our products are thoughtful designed to help people and the planet.
Be the first to comment