“There’s definitely an appetite for more sustainable footwear options,” said ALDO’s senior sustainability manager Karine Kicak via Zoom. As the ALDO Group’s sustainability team lead, Karine helped the Montreal-based brand become the first climate-neutral fashion footwear and accessories company in the world. She also helped ALDO rethink single-use packaging and phase out plastic bags. Now, the chemical engineer and life-cycle assessment expert of 10-plus years has achieved another amazing feat: launching ALDO’s first-ever sustainable collection, Love Planet.
The new range includes a mix of shoes and accessories—like these beautifully braided hoop earrings—made with planet-loving materials like an exclusive algae-based sole. Though the Love Planet collection marks the first fully sustainable line from ALDO, it’s not the debut of the company’s CleanStep technology; the same eco-friendly foam insole and recycled plastic bottle upper was used in the design of the brand’s RPPL (pronounced ripple) sneaker that was released in 2019.
With all the positives of using a new material like algae, there comes negatives, too. Needless to say, the production of the RPPL sneaker and the Love Planet collection didn’t come without complications. Karine admits the new products “smelled like a lake” and it took a biodegradable additive to neutralize the seaweed scent. Indeed, inspired by brands with bold sustainability targets like Patagonia, Nike and Adidas (all of which are part of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition with ALDO), she and her team pushed through the challenges, determined to go green.
Certainly, ALDO’s sustainability initiatives won’t stop with Love Planet. According to Karine, the company will look to incorporate increasing numbers of alternative textiles into the design of its shoes and accessories, not limited to the new collection. For example, Piñatex, a sustainable leather substitute made from wasted pineapple leaf fibres, is on her radar for future use, as well as biodegradable poly bags for packaging. “The idea is that when we come up with these new materials, we start rolling them out into more styles so that eventually, they become the standard.”
In other words: prepare yourself to shop a variety of eco-friendly choices from ALDO for years to come. —Anastasia Barbuzzi
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