How to give shoes an afterlife
Sketch by Nalini Arora
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been in sale frenzy. Beautiful shoes marked down to 50%, then 60% and then an additional 15% if it’s not moving fast enough.
Something came to me, what about finding another purpose for these shoes? What if there was a way to keep your customer curious, and engaged? What about showing your customers that your brand really does tell a sustainable story that is meaningful?
How can you reuse and reimagine your designs? Your shoes can have an afterlife. Here is how:
Drawing by Nalini Arora
Upcycling
Upcycling is taking the old, new unused, worn out or damaged materials and transforming them into brand new pieces. The difference between upcycle and recycle is upcycling you can use existing shoes to create something new, and recycling, you must break it down before being re-used.
Some ideas in upcycling footwear:
A. Collaborate with an artist to add a new take to footwear during your selling period. More specifically: Making art into shoes. If you don’t see your shoe gaining traction, why wait to put it on sale? Engage your customers to find out what motivates them to buy. Perhaps it’s a little trial and error of engaging an artist to paint shoes, or unique monogramming idea. Engage an artist to collaborate in adding more spark to your design. Customers today are looking for originality, and engagement. This is a great opportunity to introduce an artist to your customer as well. Today’s customers are looking for ways to support small businesses. It’s a win for everyone.
B. Add accessories to shoes for personalization. Review deadstock items in your collection that can add new personalized design or a new look to your shoes.
What items in your deadstock library can you add to your shoes to make them fresh? Some ideas include: utilizing hardware from your accessory line on shoes. Going thru your unused material library or scraps and finding a way to add these designs to your shoes for a capsule collection. I love this apparel designer who takes material from other items and adds them to vintage clothing.
C. Shoes turn home accessories
We’re in a pandemic. People are staying home more often or working from home. Turn your shoe designs into home accessories, bookends, planters, or an art piece.
D. Create an upcycled label within your brand. People are looking for ways to save money and support a cause they believe in. Find creative ways within your own brand to sell product that didn’t make the cut or that are struggling to sell.
The purpose of upcycling is making your shoe better than it was before. If these shoes are just sitting in your warehouse, why just sit on them or plan to discount them later. Teach your customer that you’re doing more than just selling product, but you also care about the planet you share with them.
Image via Western Affair
Recycling
Recycling is also another option to giving shoes designs new life. However, this option can be a little more complicated than upcycling because you’ re breaking the shoe down which can be a more costly. Again, getting creative is key here. A few ideas:
1. Go back to your overstock/deadstock: Have a print within your clothing line that didn’t get used? Or have overstock material? Revisit these materials and see how you can use this in a new way. I love Western Affair. They use vintage rugs, and ties to create unique designs. Customers are drawn to innovation that’s simple and clever.
2. Take your shoes apart, and create new ideas There are many designers out there who do this kind of work with sneakers. I love this designer which I’m sure you’ve seen. She takes apart sneakers and creates new designs. There is so much opportunity here .
3. Use your scrap materials for shoe designs either for the entire shoe or details. The zero-waste concept is a great way to create one-of-a-kind pieces and tell a sustainable story within your brand
There are a lot of ways to practice sustainability within you brand. It’s not just using water bottles or a 10% recyclable outsole. It’s creating a sustainable story unique to your brand and engaging your customer into that story.
If you’re looking to collaborate on ways to tell new sustainable stories you can contact me here.