Just because we’re in lockdown doesn’t mean that a girl can’t dream about shoes, right?
This Autumn I’m moving back from my ‘YES-to-full-on-colour’ stance and towards favouring neutrals which blend in with other things in my wardrobe. I’m aiming to buy less, but when I do buy, buy mindfully. The goal is to adapt my existing pieces and help them go the extra distance, season to season. I’ve also finally done a proper capsule wardrobe cull (more on this in a future blog post coming soon!!) but I am still looking for a couple of strategic pieces to help everything come together. This means that I need to occasionally buy a piece here and there so that the rest of my clothes can be properly unified as one big happy family.
Of course, I haven’t given up my ethical and sustainable fashion principles. As long time readers will know, I’ve been an aspiring ethical fashion fan since around 2016. I try as much as possible to buy local, buy from brands with ethical values and to look at the supply chain when I’m purchasing new clothes. If possible, I also try to source things second-hand.
Something which has caught my eye, in particular, is the new Miha sneaker from Mi Piaci. Who can say no to a sneaker you can quickly slip on every time that you need to pop up and go to the dairy for another bar of Whittaker’s chocolate, no laces required? But what really caught my eye is that the Miha sneaker is made from Repreve which is a traceable, certified material made from 100% recycled items.
Plastic, Not-So-Fantastic
Kiwis dispose of 97 million plastic containers in rubbish bins each year. Yeah, not good. As well as properly making sure that we are ACTUALLY recycling, encouraging brands to be sustainable and use new technology with recycled materials in their products can make a real difference if we want them to take sustainability seriously. It’s vital to put your money where your mouth is and actively source brands who are experimenting with branching out into innovative, sustainable practices. Enter Overland using Repreve.
Overland are attempting to move in a different direction and turn their business model into one which supports sustainable practices. In case you wondered, Overland are the parent company of Mi Piaci, Merchant 1948 and Deuce. As you know, I support New Zealand brands unequivocally and so I am proud to wear Overland shoes. Overland are a New Zealand based, family owned and operated footwear retailer with a rich history in craftmanship and design (around since 1948). It all started with the Anselmi family who started King Country Shoes in 1948: Today, grandson Shane Anselmi is Overland’s Managing Director, while his wife Louise is the Creative Director. Together, they've built a company that is not only a household name in New Zealand, but a much loved footwear brand.
But they’re not just about being local and making a profit. They’re also keen to give back. In 2014, Overland launched their very own charity; the Young Hearts Project (YHP). Since then, $5 from every pair of full-priced Deuce sneakers sold has been donated to YHP, which is then distributed to support young New Zealanders through Overland’s partners. So far, Overland have raised over $1.2 million and remain committed to continue working with their partners to support their youth-focused initiatives.
Overland has been taking steps to be a more mindful and sustainable brand. Steps such as putting in place a sustainability committee, running a take-back scheme, and installing a permanent in-store cobbler dubbed Merchant Workshop both at the Newmarket Merchant 1948 flagship are heading in the right direction.
Can I get an Amen!?
What is Repreve and how is it made?
Technological advancements and a focus on these sustainability principles in Overland Footwear’s factory outside of Hong Kong have led to the Miha Sneaker - a shoe made from fully traceable and 100% recycled materials such as plastic bottles. The process involved in its creation helps to offset the use of petroleum in manufacture, emitting fewer greenhouse gases and conserving water and energy in the process.
The Repreve process embeds properties like wicking, adaptive warming and cooling, water repellency, and more at the fiber level. The process behind Repreve is proprietary but involves three main straightforward steps:
First, plastic bottles are cleaned and shredded into chips.
Second, they’re melted into round pellets.
Those pellets are then melted through a device that looks like a showerhead, which forms it into yarn that can be woven.
After being transformed from recycled bottles into an amazing fiber, Repreve is used by the world's leading brands to make athletic and fashion apparel. Pretty cool, yeah?
Small Steps, Big Shoes
Personally, I know that taking small steps and incrementally saving up for special, sustainable fashion items like these sneakers is how I’m showing my commitment to making more mindful fashion choices. It might not feel like much but it absolutely makes a difference. I also am very much keen to support NZ brands during these crazy COVID times.
I’m so excited to start my own Repreve collection and find out more about new textile innovation. I hope that companies like Overland continue to be transparent and share what they’re doing to make the fashion world a little bit better.
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BLOG - I was in no way compensated to write this piece. I was pitched it by PR and decided to write about this shoe and company due to my keenness to support any brand which is trying to be better and use more sustainable materials in their products.