by mathilde.bogen -

10 | Sustainability in the Footwear Industry

During this semester I have gained a lot of insight about the footwear industry and this blog post will be a summary of what I have learned and some reflection and thoughts about the way ahead

PROBLEMS IN THE FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY

The footwear industry is complex and there are many problematic areas of the industry. One of the problematic areas worth mentioning is the working conditions in all parts of the supply chain. 87% of shoes are produced in different countries in Asia and in many of these countries there are low wages and workers don’t have the ability to voice their needs and call out abusive practices (Muller & Paluszek, 2017). Additional issues within the industry include the substantial water requirement for footwear production, averaging around 8,000 liters per pair. Furthermore, the manufacturing process involves the use of numerous chemicals.

The awareness of sustainable clothing is growing in our society, but what about shoes? While the clothing industry has seen efforts to improve standards, the shoe sector still needs to catch up with better practices (Muller & Paluszek, 2017).

I have dedicated this course to take a deeper look into the sustainability issue, which is one of the major problems in the industry:

  • The footwear industry accounts for 1,4% of global emissions
  • Every year, 23 billion pairs of shoes are produced and 22 billion pairs are discarded (Dennis, 2022)
  • Only 5% of shoes get recycled and the rest end up in landfills

Examining these facts, it becomes evident that there is an overconsumption of shoes and there is a massiv problem concerning the disposal of shoes. According to Yanet Hernandez Perez (2022), around 40 materials are utilized in the production of shoes. The combination of all these different materials makes them difficult to recycle. Possible approaches to solve these problems are to either improve the recyclability of shoes or to encourage a shift in consumer behavior towards reduced shoe purchases.

MATERIALS AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE MAJOR BRANDS

More than 60% of the emissions from the global footwear industry come from the manufacturing and raw material extraction. For the synthetic and textile shoes, the manufacturing stage represents the biggest area of the life cycle. For leather shoes, the raw material extraction and processing account for over 50% of their climate impact (Quantis, 2023). The leather has to go through a tanning process which is the process where animal skin turns into leather. It is very common to use a problematic chemical in this process which is both impacting the human health and polluting the environment (Muller & Paluszek, 2017).

Vegan leather is an alternative to real leather. This material can be a part of a sustainable approach, but isn’t necceseraly representing an integrated approach. One have to look at the bigger picture and the hole industry to know if vegan shoes are sustainable (Muller & Paluszek, 2017).

Many of the major footwear brands have one more or less sustainable shoe collection. That may be because it is important for their image to show that they care about the environment and that they actually do something. However, there is a lack of transparency and holisitc approaches in most footwear brands, which makes it difficult to examine the sustainability. One example of a shoe brand that is focusing on transparency is Veja. On their website they share information about various aspects of production, but all available information is not up to date (Muller & Paluszek, 2017).

In the research paper Evaluation of Sustainability & Materials Among Major Footwear Brands Nike and Adidas were compared when it comes to sustainability. Some shoes from Adidas and Nike were deconstructed, and the materials were examined. The main finding from the observation of the materials was that Nike uses fewer recycled materials in their shoes but incorporates them in more styles, compared to Adidas, which uses more recycled materials in each shoe but incorporates them in fewer styles.

One line of shoes that I found innovative is the Cloudneo by the bran On. The shoes are 100% recyclable and are only available through subscription. This means that you get the shoes, use them until they are worn out, send them back, they will be recycled and you will get another pair of these shoes. This can be a new and more sustainable way of selling shoes. One negative aspect of this service is that it is pretty expensive, costing 29€ per month, which makes it less accessible for everyone.

CONSUMER HABITS

When it comes to consumer habits, I have read some research papers about the topic and created my own survey. I focused mostly on learning about peoples habits with worn out shoes and shoes that has to be fixed. It is difficult to conclude and find tendencies based on my survey, since I only got 36 responses, but here are the main findings:

  • Most people have never used a shoe repair service
  • Many people think it is easier to buy new shoes then to repair their old ones
  • There might be a lack of knowledge about what a shoe repairer can fix and the overall service in general

COBBLERS

Today, although many shoes are mass-produced and disposable, there are still cobblers who offer repair services. Cobblers can repair soles, heels, and other parts of shoes, as well as perform more intricate tasks like stitching and reconditioning leather.

The need for cobblers is lower then it used to be many places around the world. In Regina, in the US, the number of cobblers went from 46 in 1955 to 3 in 2014. In the same time period, the population increased with 160 000 (CBC News, 2020).

VISION

In the next semester I want to learn a bit more about the shoe repair profession to be able to see the opportunities of how this service can be reinvented or modernized so that it is more up to date with modern society. Maybe the service will be more accessible and visible if it can be combined with a cafe? I also want to learn more about awareness campaigns and how to create a successful awareness campaign.

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REFERENCES

by mathilde.bogen -

09 | Affective design and awareness campaigns

This weeks focus will be on affective design and how to design for behavioral change. The research paper Affective design and sustainability: Social stimulation at the feet of humanity written by Nadia Maria Mourão, Beatriz de Paula Mourão and Aline Mourão Lataro Hoehne is the inspiration of this blog post.

Individuals develop connections and attachments to their possessions. The stronger the attachment to an object, the more likely a person is to care for it. Designers have the power to influence this relationship. One effective method is to use awareness campaigns to encourage people to make better choices in caring for their belongings. Before going further into the power of awareness campaigns, it is crucial to understand affective design.

AFFECTIVE DESIGN

In order to understand affective design its important to define affectivity. According to the educator and physician Henri Wallon, emotions are related to the biological side of human behavior, with short physical reactions, while affectivity is broader and includes a range of expressions (Almeida, 2001). Affective design as an approach that focuses on the role of human emotions and their influence on how people understand and relate to artifacts. Affective bonds are powerful and can change the way we think, shaping how we see and understand events and change how we interact with objects (Affectivedesign.org, 2006).

It is important to understand the affective forms the user can have with a product. One common form is love. It is important to have in mind that the love a person can feel for a product differs from a love between people – there is no mutual growth. According to Oliveira (2014) the sensory contact between the person and his/hers object can become so intense that the object becomes an extension of the human body.

„Dealing with affective design in the socio-environmental sector is a small contribution that companies and institutions can make to make society aware“ (Mourão et al., 2023).

AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS – Design for behavioral change

There are multiple tools that intends to promote positive change in social attitude and one of the most important ones might be public awareness campaigns. Policymakers are responsible for creating programs for sustainable development, but the success of these efforts depends on people (Muller & Paluszek, 2017). Making these initiatives successful involves raising awareness and influencing personal attitudes and opinions. Designers play the role of opinion-makers in awareness campaigns. In the following section, I will present two awareness campaigns in the footwear industry, illustrating effective approaches of how to engage people to reflect upon their relationship with their footwear.

PET sandals campaign

In some of the poorest countries in Africa, the inhabitants make their own footwear using PET bottles and other resources they can find. They create a sandal, where the PET bottle works as the sole of the shoe. In these regions there are no recycling system, leading to waste accumulation in landfills (Mourão, 2019). In 2013, UNICEF initiated an awareness campaign called “Put yourself in their shoes” where these PET sandals were sold in Croatian shoe stores. Through the emotional appeal of design, the difference of the two realities became evident, seeing PET sandals and other footwear side by side. The campaign drew attention to the daily lives of those living in extreme poverty, but also to the use of recyclable materials in the footwear industry (Mourão et al., 2023). People got the opportunity to try the PET sandals and they could also contribute funds to support UNICEF’s initiatives.

PET sandals
PET sandals and other footwear side by side in Croatian shoe stores

Sustainable footprint – Adidas

Sustainable Footprint is an awareness campaign that Adidas introduced in Sao Paulo in Brazil in 2012 and a second version in 2015. The goal of this sustainability campaign was to minimize the environmental impact caused by incorrect disposal of sports shoes. This was done by collecting sneakers from any brand that were in no condition to use. In return, the people that handed in their shoes would be get discounts or rewards (Mourão et al., 2023). The shoes were then transported to a distribution center and then sorted into different categories depending on their condition:

  • Recycle – The raw materials would be used in creation of another piece
  • Reuse – The product would return into the second hand market after going through a hygiene procedure
  • Energy generation – The product would go through a process and eventually turn into fuel

This campaign encouraged people through rewards and discounts to the right disposal of waste for recycling.

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REFERENCES

by mathilde.bogen -

06 | Survey

This weeks focus has been to create a survey to gather information about habits and behaviour when it comes to shoe shopping. It has been difficult to conclude or see any tendencies in the secondary research I have read so far. It has also been centered around other cultures where the consumers may have other habits. I would also like to include a part about consumer habits when it comes to cobbler so that I hopefully can understand if this is a service that people actually take use of.

Here is a link to the survey if you would like to participate: https://forms.gle/X2bunEL4SjLdAAET7

INTRODUCTION TO SURVEY

I am currently studying the topic of Sustainability in the Footwear Sector in a course called Design and Research. My current task involves gathering information about consumer behaviour and habits related to footwear. Your insights are crucial for understanding this consumer behaviour.

Completing the survey will only take 2-4 minutes, and your participation would be greatly appreciated.

If you have additional thoughts on the topic, feel free to email me at: mathilde.bogen@edu.fh-joanneum.at

ESTABLISHING QUESTIONS

These questions will help me to gain a better understanding about differences when it comes to social factors like which generation you belong to, gender and which culture you are a part of.

  1. How old are you?
    • 18 – 33
    • 34 – 44
    • 45 – 54
    • 55 +
  2. Gender
    • Male
    • Female
    • Other
    • Don’t want to answer
  3. Nationality

QUESTIONS ABOUT HABITS

This is the main part where I want to gather the general information about consumer habits like how many pairs of shoes people have, how often and why people buy shoes and what factors are the most important ones when people buy shoes.

  1. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
    • 1 – 5
    • 6 – 10
    • 11 – 15
    • 16 – 20
    • 21 +
  2. How often do you buy new shoes?
    • More than once a month
    • Once a month
    • Once every three months
    • Once every six months
    • Once a year
    • Once every second year
    • Less than once every second year
  3. Why do you usually buy shoes? (can choose multiple)
    • Need to replace worn out shoes
    • To reward myself
    • Need to find something comfortable
    • Because they were on sale
    • Because of changing season
    • For a special occasion
    • To keep up with the latest fashion
    • Other: …
  4. What do you do with your worn out shoes?
  5. What is/are decisive factor/s when shoe shopping? (can choose multiple)
    • Price
    • Quality
    • Trendyness
    • Brand
    • Comfort
  6. Have you ever bought second hand shoes?
    • Yes
    • No

QUESTIONS ABOUT COBBLERS

This is a small part about cobblers where I want to understand if people actually take use of them or not.

  1. Have you ever used a shoe repairer service?
    • Yes
    • No
  2. If yes: What was repaired/fixed?
  3. If no: Why not?

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It might be challenging to get enough answers to actually be able to come with a conclusion. I will in the upcoming weeks hand the survey out to people and hopefully get some answers that I can analyse after Christmas.

by mathilde.bogen -

05 | Consumer habits

This weeks focus has been to research consumer habits when it comes to footwear. My research is mostly based of a research paper written by Alena Pospisilova who wrote the paper as a part of her study program BA (Hons) European Business at University of Huddersfield. The article explored gender and generational differences in consumer habits in the UK. It is important to have in mind that the paper was written in 2012/13 and Pospisilova writes about other articles from 2003. Both the article and the sources used in the article are a bit outdated, but the paper is still useful to gain a better understanding of the habits of different consumers and some aspects might be similar today.

THE PERCEPTION OF FOOTWEAR

The perception of footwear has gone through considerable changes. The footwear’s original purpose is to protect the feet. In the past, footwear has amounted different roles in peoples lives, while footwear is now representing fashion style, power and richness. It is a way to show social status. People are influenced by the people they surround: friends, family, co-workers or classmates. The shoes people buy can reflect the peoples inner feelings and how they want to express themselves to others.

GEOGRAPHICAL MARKETS

The footwear market can be split into different geographical markets. The different fashion trends in different cultures leads to different needs. However, due to mass media the differences are not that big and the world could also be seen as one big market (Pospisilova, 2013). Some might think that there will be different needs for people living where there are rough winters compared to where there are no snow, but it is not always like that. The shoes that UGG originally produced were for surfers. However, today, you can find these shoes globally, used not only by surfers on the beach but also by people in Nordic regions during the coldest winter days.

GENDER

To understand the differences in consumer behaviour, women’s and men’s purchasing habits must be distinguished. Women’s shopping tendencies often mirror their relations to others, while men typically emphasize personality and functional benefits (Pospisilova, 2013). A woman pays in general more attention to her appearance, investing more extensively in apparel and footwear compared to men.

GENERATIONS

Another important factor to take into consideration when it comes to consumer habits are the different generations. The teenagers are the most powerful people that strongly control the world market. Teenagers‘ minds and preferences are changing all the time, and it is therefore difficult to understand their wants and needs (Pospisilova, 2013). People belonging to generation X make rational decisions and purchase goods, which are practical rather than good looking. When it comes to the mature consumers, the most important factors for them is recommendations from friends and family, as well as sales and special offers.

HABITS

It is difficult to find any noticable tendencies in habits because there are a lot of differences in different studies. Some studies show that there is a strong predominance of female shoe shoppers, while others show that men shop equally often as women do. Mintel (2012) examined motivators for shoe shopping. The most commonly mentioned motivator was to replace a worn out shoe or find something comfortable, but many people also reported that they bought shoes to reward themselves. Other commonly mentioned reasons was reduced price and change of season.

RESULTS FROM SURVEY

Pospisilova made a survey with questions about consumer habits. There were 81 responses, and the result from the survey mainly disproves the information from other researchers, but this may be caused by a quite low response rate.

Key findings from survey

  • Most people shoe shop from practical reasons
  • More than half of the men own less than five pairs of shoes
  • Women own in average more than 10 pairs. Keep in mind that this is not representative, because there were some extreme cases, showing women with more than 50 pairs
  • Most women shoe shop every three months
  • 51% of the men shoe shop every six months

It is difficult to draw any conclusion due to several factors, such as old and conflicting research findings and research from another geographical area und culture. I will in the upcoming week try to gather more relevant information about the topic and create a survey to gain a better understanding of todays‘ consumer habits.

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REFERENCES

  • Mintel (2012) Footwear Retailing – UK. Minteloxygen reports platform. [online] Available at: http://academic.mintel.com. (Accessed 9th December 2023)
by mathilde.bogen -

03 | Sustainability in major footwear brands

This week’s focus has been to research how some of the biggest footwear brands work with sustainability. Is sustainability prioritized? What actions do they take to become more sustainable? What materials do they use?

ADIDAS VS NIKE

Nike and Adidas are two of the largest footwear manufacturers in the world. Given the size, importance, and influence of these brands, their sustainability choices are crucial. The research paper, titled „Evaluation of Sustainability & Materials Among Major Footwear Brands“ discusses the sustainable focus and actions of these brands. Some of the actions and goals of the companies presented in the research paper will be presented in this text.

ADIDAS

Adidas‘ sustainability efforts started in 1998 when their environmental and social standards that suppliers must uphold were announced. They want to use products that can either be recycled, remade, or return to nature. Adidas has a goal* to eliminate the use of virgin polyester wherever possible by 2024 and achieve carbon neutrality across its entire supply chain by 2025.

NIKE

Nike has 10 main principles for circular design that all involve choosing materials that have a lower sustainable impact. There are several examples where the company has stopped the use of different gases in the production phase because they were harmful to both the human body and the environment. In 2002, Nike developed an environmentally friendly rubber that contains 96% fewer toxins by weight than the material they previously used.

FOOTWEAR DECONSTRUCTION

In the research paper, some shoes from Adidas and Nike were deconstructed, and the materials were examined. The main finding from the observation of the materials was that Nike uses fewer recycled materials in their shoes but incorporates them in more styles, compared to Adidas, which uses more recycled materials in each shoe but incorporates them in fewer styles.

Goal*

A company’s goals are just goals; it does not mean that the company actually achieves them. It is difficult to know how invested the companies are in achieving their goals and if the goals are realistic or if they are a way for the company to appear sustainable and get a more sustainable image.

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REFERENCES

Yanet Hernandez Perez, N. (2022, May 19). Evaluation of Sustainability & Materials Among Major Footwear Brands . https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/9z9035249

by mathilde.bogen -

02 | Footwear materials

The main focus this week has been to learn about the most common materials that shoes consist of.

Footwear are mostly made out of leather, textile and different synthetic materials (Smith, 2022). Approximately 40 materials are used in the manufacturing of shoes (Yanet Hernandez Perez, 2022). The combination between the cost of materials and the characteristics of a material is crucial when materials are chosen.

More than 60% of the emissions from the global footwear industry come from the manufacturing and raw material extraction. For the synthetic and textile shoes, the manufacturing stage represents the biggest area of the life cycle. For leather shoes, the raw material extraction and processing account for over 50% of their climate impact (Quantis, 2023).

Here is an overview over the material share of footwear:

LEATHER

Cow leather is the most common material that is used for making shoes. It lasts long and it is flexible. Leather is elastic and can be stretched, but it is also resistant to tearing. Leather is a relatively expensive material compared to other materials. Synthetic leather is also a pretty common material in the shoe industry, but it is usually less durable than real leather. Synthetic leather consists usually of a base textile covered with a plastic material.

TEXTILES

There are many different kind of textiles that can be used on a shoe, for example cotton, wool, nylon, polyester, polypropylene, rayon, lycra amongst others.

RUBBER

Rubber is used to make the sole of the shoes. Rubber reduces the risk of slips and helps to get a good grip. The material is durable and waterproof. Rubber is a natural product that is mainly harvested from the rubber tree that exists in some tropical countries.

FOAM

There are two kinds of foam that are used for the sole of the shoe – open cell foam and closed cell foam. The open cell foam is letting air and water free to enter and exit, while the closed cell foam is completely closed off from the environment not letting anything enter the material. Open cell foam is usually softer and closed cell foam is usually dense. Open cell foam is often used in the upper back of the shoe (by the heel) and in the tongue (the adjustable part behind the laces). Closed cell foam is usually used in the sole.

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REFERENCES