A €35 voucher for cleaning up your local park or beach? Count us in …
Luxury footwear brand ESSEN THE LABEL has announced the launch of their “Waste to Wonder” initiative to celebrate World Environment Day and World Ocean Day this week. After years of cleaning up local beaches with friends, the initiative was inspired by founder, Marre Muijs, whose mission is to keep shoes out of landfills and in people’s wardrobes.
The Waste to Wonder Initiative asks people to spend time outdoors and take a moment to clean up their local beach, park or community. Then take a photo of their rubbish, tag @essenthelabel and share the image on Instagram – ESSEN will then send a $50 (€35) voucher as a thank you. It sounds too good to be true! But it really is as simple as that.
According to ESSEN: “Shoe production accounts for one-fifth of the fashion industry’s environmental impact and generates 1.4 per cent of global carbon emissions. But circularity in footwear is still extremely difficult to achieve, as shoes are typically made from a variety of different materials that are engineered to stick together, making them near impossible to disassemble.” To ease the burden of this potential waste, ESSEN’s goal is to encourage people to look at their old pieces and mend them, rather than dispose of them, or repurpose them as something else entirely.
The brand puts circularity and sustainability at the heart of everything it does. Working towards a pre-order model, ESSEN encourages customers to pre-order their pieces (at a discounted price for newsletter subscribers) so that they can determine exactly how many pairs of each style, size and colour they need to avoid waste and overproduction. Working with factories in Italy, Portugal and Spain, all shoes are handmade and crafted using traditional artisan techniques. If this all sounds like it would amount to a pair of shoes that are out of reach for many – it’s not, ESSEN’s prices are fair, with leather flats starting at just €189. Sustainable choices at attractive prices. Now, about that beach trip, don’t forget your rubbish bag!