WAES Plastic-Free Footwear

In search of a more sustainable alternative to regular sneakers, WAES created the world’s first plastic-free, biodegradable footwear

Sneaker consumption has been booming for decades, bringing stylish and comfortable footwear to people all around the world. People are standing in line for hours, sometimes days, to either wear or resell sneakers afterwards. But what happens to sneakers when they are worn out or when they simply lose cultural value? Most sneakers end up in landfill. Diminishing quality and new releases can quickly make sneakers obsolete. And due to the material mix and adhesives, most sneakers cannot be recycled or put back into nature at the end of their functional life. WAES Footwear has come up with a plastic free solution that can be put back into nature and lower our footprint.

WAES Footwear

WAES is a young footwear brand, founded in the UK, that established themselves as the first zero plastic footwear company. They launched in the midst of the pandemic last year and are making great efforts to introduce their sustainable sneakers to the world. The brand, that was started with the help of a kickstarter campaign last year, is an initiative by Ed Temperley and his old friend and business partner Damian Quinn. 

The brand uses a variety of natural materials to create comfortable, premium quality sneakers that are handmade in Portugal. Starting at the bottom, the in- and outsoles of WAES are 100% made with natural Lactae Hevea rubber that is collected from old forests and certified FSC village producers. Most ordinary shoes with natural rubber contents only contain 30% natural and 70% synthetic rubber. The rubber is hand-poured into the molds and then slow-cooked for a week to create a flexible and durable structure. It takes a single tree close to a month to create enough juice to create one in- and outsole. At end-of-life, the soles can be shredded and processed through ordinary composting. 

The uppers of WAES sneakers are still made of animal leather, but they are chrome-free and do not contain any added toxic coatings or fixatives. In contrast to regular treated leather, this one is made in such a way that it can still be biodegraded easily at end-of-life. Their range of canvas sneakers is made with organic cotton.

To turn these materials into one product, WAES found a way to develop their own plastic free, biodegradable thread materials and conifer glue. Finally, a quartz coating was used on their canvas and suede styles to make them water- and stain repellent.

Reviews on the sneakers praise the shoe’s comfort and style. Head over to their website waes.co to take a look at their current offering.