I am very selective when I buy shoes. Extremely selective in fact, as I only buy one pair of shoes a year. The pair of shoes that I buy is the latest pair from the Nike Lunarglide series. I like them because they’re comfortable, versatile, and durable.
The LunarGlide 7s. Aren’t they pretty?
Why am I telling you this? Well, during our discussion last week regarding Adidas’ pair of ocean plastic shoes, I was feeling skeptical. Why on earth would anyone want to buy these shoes? Shoes made from ocean trash? Let’s just hope the shoes aren’t trash themselves. I’m no expert in shoes, but ocean plastic does not seem like very durable material.
The highly acclaimed ocean plastic shoes from Adidas.
Aesthetically, the shoes do look pretty cool, but I’m not quite sure how they will perform functionally. I’m afraid that Adidas’ focus might’ve been green first, great second, instead of the other way around. Anyways, being a bit disappointed in these “sustainable” shoes, I decided to do a Google search for some real sustainable shoes.
Now take a look at these shoes. What do you notice about them? Not much right. They look like any ordinary pair of sneakers. However, the cool thing is that this particular pair of shoes was sustainably made.
My search for sustainable shoes led me to an interesting article from Wired (http://(http://www.wired.com/2016/01/these-are-the-coolest-sustainable-sneakers-weve-ever-seen/#slide-2), which told the story of two business students who decided to start their own eco-friendly shoe company called Vega.
Using sustainable materials to create their shoes, the shoes don’t look eco friendly, yet the shoes themselves are extremely eco-friendly. However, the prices aren’t unreasonably high either, the cool thing about Vega is that they keep their prices reasonable by having zero to low advertising.
For myself, I’m generally a bit of a skeptic towards sustainable products as sometimes there can be some greenwashing involved, so it’s refreshing to see a company like Vega be committed to making a positive impact on the world through genuine and transparent sustainable practices (you can find out more about them on their website).
Personally, I feel like Vega’s vision and style of sustainable shoes is much more practical and impactful than Adidas’, and it will definitely be interesting to see how sustainability and the trend towards being more eco-friendly will affect the shoe industry in the future.
“Vega (Veja?) keeps its costs low by having zero to low advertising”. I’ve never heard of Vega before and this statement explains why. It’s great that this product is sustainable but is it really effective if nobody knows about it? Great before green, yes, but even if it’s great, if nobody knows about it neither of these apply. Perhaps I just happened to be one of the people that don’t know the brand but is their ‘vision’ really effective if they can’t (don’t) even promote it?
I also had some strong opinions during the discussion on the Adidas shoes in class. I see the whole thing as a way to latch on to a very “trendy” problem in the world right now: ocean plastic. While I question their motives in producing such a shoe, I am wary about your assessment that the shoes might not be very durable. There is really no way to tell how well the shoes will perform until they are released in the market.
It’s refreshing to see a company like Vega that is committed to producing a sustainable product, but also offering it at a reasonable price. Too often we see price premiums on products that are more sustainable. Sometimes these are impossible for companies to avoid because of increased costs associated with sustainable sourcing, but there are ways to reduce costs as Vega has shown.
Hey Gabriel I agree that there is some green washing aspect to the Adidas shoes, but because Adidas is such a well know company. I feel like the green washing helps bring awareness to the public about the severity of ocean plastic and products and technology that is available in the market now that could alleviate the situation.
VEJA shoes seems like a really interesting company, I especially liked how they are so transparent and willing to educate its consumers about where and how they source their materials. Something that stood out to me was that they highlighted limitations in their projects tab and it is something that I have seen for the first time, which is really interesting, it’s rare for companies to admit their weaknesses, so it’s quite refreshing. However, I do not completely agree with you about not incorporating marketing into their business strategy.
In order for our world to be preserved for future generations, the ultimate goal for us to have as many people make the transition into sustainability products or companies that promotes and follows a sustainable model. Marketing will expose the brand to more people and get ideas and money flowing and that can help with solving limitations and solving problems.