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F.A.Q.
Sustainability
1. What materials do you use?
Our sneakers are 100% plastic free,top-grain Italian vegetable-tanned leather and are ISO 14001 certified. The insoles are made of natural fibers and latex while the outsoles are 100% natural rubber. The laces are made of eco-cotton. Our sneakers are 100% plastic-free.
2. Why aren’t you using recycled plastic?
We don’t believe that plastic – even recycled or upcycled – is sustainable. Our mission is to get rid of the use of plastic in fashion and replace it with better materials in order to protect our planet and oceans. Producing our sneakers without plastic allows us to decrease CO2 emissions and waste ending up in landfills, as well as avoid microplastic from leaking into our oceans.
3. Are your products vegan?
Our products are not vegan. We use top-grain Italian vegetable tanned leather that has been produced as a byproduct of the farming industry. This allows us to make 100% plastic-free products. We are always looking into new, innovative materials in order to make our products more sustainable.
4. Why are you using leather if you want to be sustainable?
As a part of the design process, various materials were considered. We wanted to have sneakers that are 100% plastic-free, and currently, the Italian leather used in our sneakers was the most sustainable option.
Using leather allows us to make sneakers that can be upgraded and this way kept in use for longer, supporting the circular ideology of designing out the waste. Similarly, many other vegan options are still coated with a plastic which makes their recycling difficult. This material choice also helps us to save on CO2 emissions. We are always looking into new, sustainable materials to further develop our products.
5. Why aren’t you using recycled leather?
We cannot control second-hand leather. We don’t know the material nor the tanning process. At the moment, the supply chain would be too hard to control.
6. How are your sneakers saving more than 70kg of CO2 emissions?
With one pair of our sneakers, over 70kg of CO2 emissions can be saved per year by simply using a pair of OUR CHOICE circular sneakers for five years resulting in buying less one pair of fast fashion sneakers per year.
The calculations on emissions and carbon neutrality can be found here (link to the calculations).
7. What organization or partner are you using for the ocean cleanup?
We are working with Empower. You can read more about them on empower.eco. https://empower.eco/
8. Do you use sustainable packaging?
Yes, we use eco-bags to ship our products in. To minimize the impact on the environment, we always recommend keeping the packaging material to use in any way you find suitable. The bag can also be saved and later used when the shoes are sent back to us for upgrading.
9. Is your production process sustainable?
Our products are produced by implementing a circular mindset and design. You can read more about our circularity lower on this page.
Besides being circular, we are socially responsible. Our shoes are assembled by the best and most ethical factories staffed by committed and talented production experts. The sneakers are hand-made in Portugal by paying fair wages and without the usage of toxic materials. We are committed to zero-waste, minimal CO2 emissions, and offering a safe working environment. We take full responsibility to produce ethical fashion in compliance with the EU labour law.
10. Is the shipping CO2 compensated?
Our logistics partner is compensating all CO2 emissions caused by shipping.
11. How can you be both sustainable and affordable?
Our strategy is to keep our products affordable and have designed the production process to support it. We have control over every part of the design and production process which has allowed us to cut out the unnecessary middlemen, which is part of the standard retail process . This allows us to pay more for the raw materials while at the same time pay the workers fairly without having to raise prices.
Circularity
1. Why are your products circular?
The products are designed with the circularity in mind so that nothing ends up in waste or in landfills. You can read more about our circular method here (link to circular business page).
We only use natural, recyclable raw materials for on-demand production that reduces carbon emissions. We also recycle and reuse any leftovers from the upgrading process. Circularity also means that we embrace the challenge of making our shoes last longer.
2. Why is circular business better for the world?
Overconsumption plays a big part in environmental issues such as pollution and climate change. Circular products are not designed with a traditional, linear mindset that supports a throwaway culture of always buying new. In fact, we don’t want you to buy more, we want you to buy less and choose quality over quantity. Our goal is to move the world towards a circular economy and away from the linear economy of produce-use-dispose.
OUR CHOICE believes that we all need to consume less — that is why we made our circular sneakers. Buying OUR CHOICE sneakers and wearing them for five years will save 70kg of CO2 emissions. If we all buy one less pair of sneakers per year, we will save 117 million tons of CO2 emissions yearly.
Since the sneakers are designed with circularity in mind, they have as few pieces and seams as possible which makes them both durable and resilient. Our aim is for the sneakers to last for a decade or more.
3. What happens to the material waste created as a part of the production process?
All materials will be recycled and reused.
Products & Production
1. Where are the products produced?
Our products are produced in Portugal and designed in Europe.
2. How long a pair of OUR CHOICE shoes is estimated to last?
Our aim is for this sneaker to last for a decade or more. This is made possible by designing the product with circularity in mind, with as few pieces and seams as possible. It also includes the repair service to make sure your shoes are refurbished and upgraded when needed.
3. How do I use the upgrading service?
You can read more about the upgrading service here. (link to the upgrading service page)
4. How are the sneakers sized?
You can find our size chart here. (link to the size chart)