It is probably the most unusual development of a sustainable shoe: After researching the “sneaker hunt”, the media startup Flip teamed up with the sneaker manufacturer Monaco Ducks to find a solution to the garbage problem in Africa. The result is the MARABU sneaker, the sole of which is partly made of rubbish. Now the crowdfunding starts.
Germany is one of the largest exporters of old clothes and shoes. Many sneakers also end up in Africa, are hardly usable anymore and pollute the environment there on a large scale. “The big manufacturers don’t care about this problem, the extent of which we could see with our own eyes during our research in Kenya,” says Christian Salewski, reporter and co-founder of Flip. “We have therefore decided that we will look for a radically constructive approach to a solution.”
“The idea,” says Flip co-founder Dominik Sothmann, “was clear relatively quickly: we wanted to develop a sneaker that would help clean up textile waste in Africa.” For this experiment, Flip teamed up with shoe manufacturer Monaco Ducks. The local partner is the Kenyan recycling startup Africa Collect Textiles (ACT). The project is scientifically supported by the Faculty of Textile & Design at Reutlingen University. Together, the project partners have succeeded in shredding sneakers from Kenya that are no longer usable into granulate and processing them into new soles. This should ensure that old sneakers do not end up in the environment or on illegal landfills at the end of their life cycle, but become part of a recycling sneaker.
“That alone was a big challenge,” says Vanessa Zillich, product manager at Monaco Ducks. “But we wanted the sneaker to be as recyclable as possible.” For the rest of the sole, a material mix that was as environmentally friendly as possible was developed, which consists of around 90 percent renewable raw materials (60 percent natural rubber, 30 percent rice husk ash). The upper consists of only 15 components, 13 of which are made from recycled materials. In addition, a deposit should ensure that the sneakers are returned after use and recycled as completely as possible.
The sneaker is produced in Portugal. In the future, however, as much added value as possible should be relocated to Africa. “We’re not the world’s dump,” says Alex Musembi, co-founder of recycling startup Africa Collect Textiles (ACT), which collects the old shoes in Kenya. “A recycled sneaker helping locally to combat the problem is overdue and can become part of the solution.”
Flip reported on the development of the sneaker, with all the difficulties and challenges. “We urgently need more transparency and education in the fashion industry,” says Tina Weber from the Textile Faculty at Reutlingen University. “Linking this with scientific findings is exemplary.” A rough CO2 analysis by the Heidelberg Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) has shown that
that the emissions are significantly below those of a conventional sneaker. The environmental impact is to be determined even more precisely by means of a commissioned life cycle analysis.
For the now starting crowdfunding, Flip and Monaco Ducks have founded their own company: GRND. It should turn the prototype into a real enterprise. The first sneaker that is now crowdfunded bears the name MARABU. It is named after the scavenging, waist-high birds that sometimes live on Kenya’s garbage dumps.
Crowdfunding begins Tuesday, October 4th at 8am on Kickstarter.
For an amount between 99 euros and 129 euros, supporters receive a pair of MARABU sneakers as soon as they have been produced. Crowdfunding can be accessed via this link: www.kickstartder.com/projects/marabu/grnd
