Responding to a global emergency

Whilst the world’s media has focused on fast fashion and the need for sustainable fashion, footwear brands have avoided the spotlight. But the stark facts behind footwear pollution are of the same magnitude, if not greater.

We manufacture 25 BILLION pairs of shoes every year

FIFTY BILLION individual shoes

Includes 3 billion pairs of synthetic flip-flops per annum

Every single one heading to landfill or the environment at end-of-life

Each pair weighs between 0.5-1kg creating millions of tonnes to sit in landfill

The volume is growing 20% every decade – that’s another 10 billion extra linear throwaway shoes by 2030

To put this into context the world production of apparel is only 100 billion items per annum

The athletic footwear market alone is worth around $50bn – but close to zero is being spent on environmental initiatives and circularity.

