A popular shoe brand Blowfish Malibu has partnered with Oceana to create their 4Earth collection as a commitment to taking the step into a more sustainable future.
Oceana is an international advocacy organisation dedicated solely to ocean conservation.
Made from recycled plastic bottles, the 4Earth collection is an effort to reduce waste in the fashion industry.
“We acknowledge that an estimated 300 million pairs of shoes end up in a landfill every year and know we are part of that problem. Going forward, we are committed to doing our part to decrease our footprint on the environment,” read a statement by the shoe brand.
The new collection comes in three different designs, the Play4Earth Sneaker, the Balla4Earth Wedge Sandal, and the Marley4Earth Sneaker.
To create the collection, they first collected plastic bottles and removed all the caps before sorting out bottles according to colour. They cleaned the bottles and sterilised them. The bottles were dried and shredded into flakes. Flakes were melted and pressed into tiny pellets before spun into a thread. They wove the threads into rolls of fabric before sewing the fabric to create the upper material of the shoe.
Some of the proceeds from the 4Earth pairs sold will be donated.
Blowfish Malibu is known for its sustainable collection. Previously, the brand released a vegan collection to expand into Spring/Summer 2021.