What is sustainable sourcing?

The puzzle of choosing materials

Sourcing corresponds to the selection of the raw materials that will make up the basketball. This is one of the key steps to make sneakers cleaner, as these materials represent a large part of CO2 emissions and water pollution related to industry. We were therefore keen to select vegan materials (we do not use animal materials), natural and/or recycled, potentially biodegradable and easily recyclable.

There is the dream, then there is the reality. Because the more we dig and go up the supply chain, the more we risk falling on habits that are not very favorable to the environment (we will talk about social issues in another article on assembly). Difficult to distinguish the true from the false with the different suppliers, especially when it is not your initial job.

We have therefore chosen to work with an agency based near Porto which supports us in this stage. All our raw materials come from Portugal or Italy. We have provided them with our specifications and trust our agent Paulo as to the choice of the corresponding suppliers. Unfortunately, we currently do not have the means to audit the practices of each of these suppliers ourselves in order to ensure that they all comply with an extensive environmental charter (for example where they return wastewater following the color of a material). Some have received specific labels, others have not. It's a job in its own right that we want to do as we grow up in order to reduce the impact of our sneakers as much as possible.

A compromise on the raw material, not on the design

Another complexity related to sourcing is that it must be perfectly consistent with the design because one does not work without the other. You can find the most ecological natural raw material in the world and realize that it absolutely does not make it possible to produce a durable sneaker, whether in terms of design or solidity, for example. Unfortunately, I experienced a pair of travel sneakers (flexible, light, quick-drying, good support, etc.) with a very low carbon footprint (and a nice story-telling), which got a hole after 3 months (same for my girlfriend's). We are entitled to ask ourselves the question, is my pair of Nike Internationalist that I have been wearing for 2 years not more durable as a result?

Paulo and Kaito (our designer) worked hand in hand to ensure the overall consistency of our first collection. We arrived with a slightly utopian vision and wanted to use only natural or recycled raw materials, not from animal exploitation. It was by discussing with industry experts and digging deep into the subject that we understood that we were going to have to make compromises and that it was not serious. No compromise on quality, strength, comfort or design. But on the price and the choice of materials yes. On the price because producing more locally with cleaner materials does not (yet) allow you to release a pair of sneakers at 80€. On the materials because if we want to produce a vegan sneaker that looks good, that is of high quality, robust and comfortable, we must find materials with properties equivalent to animal leather without being one. All while being as clean as possible to remain consistent. Pineapple, mushroom, seaweed or even cork leather? We studied everything and none of these materials of natural origin met our requirements in terms of design.

If the result works on leather goods or other fashion pieces, we found that it did not work on sneakers with the ambition to compete with the classics in your wardrobe. We use organic cotton (laces and lining), recycled rubber for the soles but also Seaqual fiber made from recycled plastic from the oceans for the mesh.

We also use vegan imitation leather (imitation leather and suede), part of which is produced from recycled plastic (the rest being synthetic). These materials are still the result of chemical processes that are harmful in the long term for the workers who work with them on a daily basis .

We follow the market closely in order to be able to quickly replace these synthetic leathers with a material of natural origin that is aesthetic enough, strong and flexible enough to constitute the major part of a trainer that meets our requirements (we are studying corn resin for the second collection). This first collection is therefore much cleaner than the vast majority of the current offer, but we still have a lot of progress to make.

We keep the same motivation to improve the percentage of natural materials in our sneakers and we will get there by growing thanks to more knowledge and means. We also believe that sustainability is not limited to materials, or even to the product (we told you about it here ). We keep in mind that even a brand like Patagonia admits it still has room for improvement. The question is not to do everything perfectly, without any negative impact on the planet (which is utopian) but rather to do the best we can, to continually question ourselves in order to improve and make our business as clean as possible. What matters is the balance between our negative impact and our positive impact.

To discover the design of our first collection and decide whether or not we were right to make these choices, register at the bottom of the page.

Thanks for reading. 😊

See you soon,

The MEEKO team