Carbon-neutral safety shoes
Italian brand U-Power is claiming a world first, with a range of safety footwear that is certified as carbon-neutral.
Footwear brand U-Power claims to have launched, for the first time anywhere in the world, a collection of certified carbon-neutral shoes and boots for the safety and workwear market.
From the outset, U-Power made it clear in its claim that its production facilities in Paruzzaro in northern Italy still generate carbon emissions. It says its efforts to reduce these emissions are ongoing and, in this quest, it places considerable store on its efforts to use materials with reduced environmental impact.
It accepts, though, that it is unavoidable for day-to-day operations at its factory not to have a carbon impact. It has, therefore, used offsetting to help it present the new collection, called Red Industry Green, as carbon neutral.
It is a busy business and was named in October last year as one of 35 stand-out exporting companies at the year’s Export Capital Awards, an event co-organised by Italy’s customs authority. These awards are divided by sector, with separate prizes for large and emerging exporters. In footwear and leather, U-Power took the award for emerging exporters; it was in exalted company, sharing the podium with its counterpart in the large exporters’ group, Gucci. The safety shoe company said it was pleased to be included among Italy’s export leaders and paid tribute to the solid commercial relationships it has forged in key logistics locations, allowing it to reach customers across Europe.
Offering a carbon-neutral collection has involved a three-step process for Gucci’s fellow-traveller. First, it set about measuring emissions at the Paruzzaro plant and then put in place a programme to reduce these. Finally, it identified environmental projects around the world and chose one it could invest in to offset the emissions it cannot eliminate from its own processes. It has used Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) for this, a type of carbon credit issued by United Nations-run carbon offset scheme the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
The project U-Power chose in this initial phase of its carbon offsetting programme is in Asia. It is a hydropower project on the Xe Namnoy River in the south of Laos. The Xe Namnoy 2 project is an important component of a renewable energy strategy that the government in Vientiane is pursuing, with the support of international development organisations and private investors. CDM has its own executive board, which has described Xe Namnoy 2 as “a renewable energy project that will produce positive environmental and economic benefits, and contribute to the local sustainable development”. It will supply renewable energy to domestic customers in Laos, but will also allow the country, which has the smallest economy in the region, to export energy to neighbouring Thailand.
Red Industry Green is a collection that consists of 12 different styles, ranging from lightweight clog-style sandals for applications such as healthcare to work boots for winter. Most, however, are sporty-style shoes. Natural, for example, is a work shoe with a soft, microfibre upper with “a high percentage of recycled materials”, according to the manufacturer. The company says the recycled material it uses comes from post-consumer-use plastic and is in keeping with the international voluntary standard GRS (Global Recycled Standard). It offers anti-slip, anti-bacterial, oil-resistant, electrostatic dissipative (ESD) and anti-puncture properties. It is particularly suited to logistics, automotive, assembly line and industrial working conditions, U-Power states.
A second style, Island, shares many of these characteristics, but has a knit upper with a high recycled polyester content. Its puncture protection is metal-free and also contains a high proportion, 59%, of recycled material. The collection’s Canyon shoe is similar, including its use of an abrasion-resistant sole constructed from polyurethane (PU) sourced from BASF, which the chemicals company presents as being “100% obtained from renewable resources”. The safety shoe brand makes references to this soling material offering enhanced protection from the cold.
In contrast, Niagara is one of the boot styles in the collection. It also uses the renewably resourced BASF PU in an insole that, according to the manufacturer, “supports the foot with an enveloping sensation of prolonged wellbeing”. Lining materials contain 66% recycled polyester and laces are from 100% recycled materials. The insole is anti-bacterial, anatomic and anti-static.
U-Power says it has been able to work with “lower-impact materials” and still meet all the same safety standards as previous collections constructed from conventional materials.
Climate-change affects everyone, U-Power has said, but everyone can bring about positive change, “starting today, beginning now”.
The carbon-neutral shoes and boots in the Red Industry Green collection use a high proportion of recycled and renewable materials, but still meet all necessary safety requirements.
Credit: U-Power.
