The shoe industry still has the reputation of lagging a long way behind the textile clothing industry when it comes to sustainability. After all, leather supply chains are usually even more complex than in the textile industry, and shoe manufacturers have absolutely no influence on a large part of these supply chains. Nevertheless, there are also first lighthouse examples in this industry that have been dealing with the complex topic voluntarily and for years and certify that leather has a sustainable right to exist even in times of growing veganism. For example, the Italian outdoor brand Aku, which has been striving for more sustainable and responsible shoe production for ten years and is one of the pioneers in its industry, not only in the outdoor market.
Aku records the carbon footprint for each pair of shoes
How is it that the shoe industry is not so much in the public eye when it comes to sustainability? “I think footwear has been kind of forgotten,” says Guilio Piccin, CSR & Product Manager at Italian outdoor shoe brand Aku. “In any case, the shoe industry is not under as much pressure as the clothing industry.” The shoe industry is by no means causing fewer problems. Aku has known that for a long time. But ten years ago, Aku found out by accident that sustainability was more important to the shoe manufacturer than to other shoe manufacturers. At that time, the “Stiftung Warentest” chose an Aku shoe as the test winner in a product test, among other things, because the analysis of the materials found particularly few chemical pollutants. Aku hadn’t expected that. The verdict confirmed the brand’s intention to continue on the path it had apparently already taken. As a company in the outdoor industry, Aku also wanted to think about how to protect the environment.
But it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t that easy. In the beginning, Aku still used the term sustainability, but over time understood that Aku – just like all other shoe manufacturers – is not sustainable and cannot become so any time soon. The reason: “We make things, we need energy, we generate waste and we sell a product that cannot be recycled. That can’t be sustainable,” says Piccin, blatantly honest. What do you do with such knowledge? Piccin: “You can either give up or start changing things.” Aku did that and since then has preferred to talk about responsibility rather than sustainability.
Aku has changed a lot in the meantime: In order to continuously reduce its own CO2 footprint, Aku has put a lot of effort into making the entire process from material to production to transport and disposal transparent and measurable with data. Aku has now progressed to the point where it can calculate the carbon footprint of every product and make better decisions based on that.
Leather would have to be replaced because of the CO2 balance – or not?
Durability and high functionality are important product properties for Aku, which is why the company continues to rely on leather. “We decided not to give up the leather. We source the leather as responsibly as possible and use as little of it as possible. We also try to use recycled leather in the shoe, which of course has a much lower impact,” says Piccin. This comes primarily from waste from the tanneries, but cannot be used as an upper. He has not yet found a satisfactory alternative that is just as durable as leather and could lead to the complete renunciation of leather.
He also believes that leather’s poor carbon footprint is only part of the truth. If you know that 80 percent of a shoe’s CO2 footprint is based on the materials used, then the message from the CO2 data determined by Aku is clear: “It’s best not to use leather anymore, but rather recycled microfibre,” says Piccin . Recycled microfiber has a much smaller CO2 footprint than leather, which takes into account what and how much the animal eats, what greenhouse gases it causes, how long it has lived, where it was slaughtered and where and how the leather was made. A lot comes together. “But if we look at the topic in reality, then one has to say that leather is a by-product of the meat industry. No cows are bred for leather. If the shoe industry stopped using leather, the leather would still exist, it would be waste and it would have to be disposed of. But that is not included in the calculation,” explains Piccin.
Seen in this way, the leather industry recycles waste from the meat industry, and as long as meat is eaten (consumption has been increasing globally for years), it also makes ecological sense to process leather. In his opinion, it would be fairer to only record the CO2 footprint from the moment when the skins are processed into leather, because his industry also has an influence on these processes.
Italy’s tanneries are working on more sustainable processes
What is meant are the processes in the tanneries. Aku knows its suppliers very well, and they have now developed a great interest in establishing more sustainable processes. “After all, responsible production also saves costs because chemicals, waste, waste water and energy can be saved,” says Piccin. Aku is based in Montebelluna, just an hour’s drive from one of the major leather centers in Italy. All leather for European production comes 100 percent from Italy, and 75 percent of the leather Aku uses today comes from LWG (Leather Working Group) certified tanneries.
The prime example is the Italian tannery Dani, which has developed a tanning process that does not require the usual salting. Fresh skins must be salted to preserve them so that they can be transported from the slaughterhouse to the tanner without being spoiled. This salt then has to be washed out again. At Dani, however, the skins are transported from the slaughterhouse to the tannery in a cooled condition – without any chemical preservation. A lot is also happening in other chemical processes, so Aku uses metal and chrome-free tanning processes that require less energy and other resources.
Robustness contradicts circular processes
The topic of recycling management is particularly difficult when it comes to mountain boots, which have to be particularly robust and hard-wearing. Rotting is ruled out from the start because the skins were saved from that. Things aren’t getting any better when it comes to recycling either. Not only are the shoes made of many different materials, such as leather, textiles, metal, foam, rubber and so on, they are also firmly glued and sewn together so that they last as long as possible. Taking them apart again and breaking them down into their component parts is a complex task. Piccin: “It would still be possible to recycle only the sole, but recycling the upper is difficult.”
Above all, Aku cannot set up this recycling system alone, it needs the entire industry and cooperation between different industries. That would be a milestone because “if we had a recycling system,” Piccin continues, “it could define the parameters for how to design and construct shoes to be recyclable. That would be helpful.” After all, Aku has always offered the service of repairing shoes or renewing soles.
At the end of the usage phase, the only way left for the Aku shoe is to go to the incinerator.
