No one has ever left home barefoot, but the production of footwear contributes to the planet’s ever-growing carbon footprint.
In Singapore, nearly 22 million pairs of shoes are sold each year and are expected to increase to 29 million by 2025. While the shoes consumers dispose of contributes to 141,200 tonnes of waste annually – and that’s just an estimate.
Fortunately, there are a lot of eco-friendly footwear brands now available in the city-state, made from materials including upcycled plastic and recycled apple waste. So if you’re looking to shop for new shoes in Singapore sustainably, we’ve curated a list to help you out!
Eco-friendly footwear brands you can find in Singapore
Allbirds
Founded in New Zealand, Allbirds has built its name creating sneakers made from more sustainable components than usual footwear.
The company is B-Certified, which means the business meets high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors ranging from material sourcing to employee benefits.
The company, now headquartered in California, says its shoes have a 30-per-cent smaller carbon footprint than a standard pair of sneakers.
Allbirds uses sustainable materials for its footwear such as Merino wool, Tencel Lyocell – a sustainable alternative to viscose, Sweetfoam – a sugarcane-based EVA (rubber polymer) for its soles, and Trino – a blend of wool and Lyocell, while its shoelaces are made from recycled plastic bottles.
The company recently teamed up with sportswear brand Adidas for Futurecraft.Footprint, creating a shoe with a carbon footprint of less than 2kg.
Ethics: Certified-B corporation, sustainable.
Origin: New Zealand/USA
Indosole
Local footwear brand Indosole repurposes used tyres as material for sandals.
Indosole founder Kyle Parsons shared that he purchased a pair of soles made from motorbike tyres, and after discovering that more than 1 billion waste tyres end up in landfills each year – and take nearly 1000 years to break down – he decided to launch the brand in 2009.
According to the company, re-purposing tyres makes some of the most durable footwear while helping the environment.
Ethics: Certified-B, sustainable, cruelty-free, fair labour.
Origin: Singapore.
Veja
Eco-friendly footwear company Veja says it uses 85-per-cent environmentally “preferred” materials such as recycled PET, organic cotton, organic juice, recycled cotton, and chrome-free leather. Veja is also the first sneaker brand to use a fabric called B-mesh, made entirely from recycled plastic bottles.
It also presents its products in detail from sourcing the raw materials to shipping through its website.
For packaging, the brand’s shoeboxes are made from 60-per-cent recycled cardboard while the rest comes from FSC-certified virgin materials. While the packaging it uses to ship the products worldwide is made from 80-per-cent recycled plastic.
According to the company, it is currently looking for more sustainable options to progress to 100-per-cent plastic-free packaging.
Ethics: Certified-B corporation, renewable energy, fairtrade, sustainable, fair labour, transparent
Origin: France.
Po-zu
‘Po-Zu’ stems from the Japanese word ポーズ, meaning to pause. According to the company, its mission is to provide feet with unique eco-friendly footwear that halts the damage manufacturing causes to people and the planet.
The brand’s footwear is made from sustainable or renewable materials such as organic linen, Pinatex, organic cotton, Frumat apple skin, cork, coir (coconut husk and latex), natural rubber and vegan leather.
According to the company, all of its shoes are made in carefully selected factories in Portugal and Sri Lanka, committed to the highest standards of ethical manufacturing. The brand has a strict non-toxic policy, and recycles all of its waste products, including water and fabric off-cuts.
Ethics: Ethical, sustainable, fair rubber, fair labour, transparent
Origin: Made in Portugal and Sri Lanka, Based in London, England.
Etiko
Etiko is an Australian apparel company that also offers sustainable footwear.
Derived from the Greek word for ethical, the company states it supports fair-labour laws and is working towards becoming carbon neutral. Etiko currently offsets emissions by purchasing social, ethical, and environmental credits from Timor-Leste through Carbon Social, which work with farmers in Baguia to re-plant trees.
Etiko’s footwear is made from materials like organic cotton and natural rubber. It also uses glue free of animal ingredients, and ships products using recycled packaging.
Ethics: Fair-trade certified, transparent, Certified-B, Social trades certified.
Origin: Made in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Based in Australia.
Muni Muni
Muni Muni is a Filipino ethical shoe brand available from Zerrin at Marina One.
According to the company, its mission is to promote conscious consumption and has a commitment to use ethical practices.
All products are hand-made in small batches and use materials like deadstock linen, natural dyes, and natural plant fibres like abaca.
Ethics: Fairtrade, fair labour, sustainable materials.
Origin: Philippines.
Kibo
Kibo hails from a second-generation footwear manufacturer, Simon, who after years of observing the manufacturing process, was not satisfied with the amount of waste produced in shoe production.
The brand uses materials such as certified leather, recycled plastics, insoles made of cork, lining made of plant-based Tencel or recycled cotton, and outsole made from natural rubber.
The company also donates a portion of its sales to Compassion First, a non-profit organisation that fights human trafficking.
Ethics: Ethical, sustainable, fair trade.
Origin: Hong Kong.
Step of Grace
Footwear label Step of Grace admits that there is no material that has zero ecological impact, and it is up to the consumers to make a better choice. According to the company, it seeks to help consumers buy shoes that have the least ecological impact.
The shoes use materials like pure linen for fabric and repurposed seashells for buttons. They are packaged using cassava as wrapping, banana tree fibre for tags and labels, and reusable calico dust bags. In addition, all business cards are printed on sustainable, renewable, and compostable tree-free Bragasse paper.
For every pair sold, Step of Grace plants a tree in reforestation projects in Borneo and the Amazon.
Ethics: Environmental, sustainable, ethical, transparent, reforestation.
Origin: Indonesia.
Beyond Skin
Established in 2021, Beyond Skin seeks to offer luxury vegan footwear that’s authentic and sustainable.
According to the company, it uses polyesters as satin fabric, instead of viscose that has a greater impact on the environment because it is processed using acids and chemicals. Beyond Skin uses synthetic leather made from cotton-backed polyurethane and lined with faux leather lining with vegetable polymer coating.
Five per cent of the company’s profits are donated to environmental and social projects.
Ethics: Vegan, ethical.
Origin: Made in Spain, designed in England.
Cariuma
The Brazilian eco-friendly footwear brand Cariuma aims to take a stand against wasteful practices in fast fashion by “reinventing the sneaker game”.
Cariuma sneakers are made from sustainable materials including bamboo, rubber, organic cotton, and sugar cane, cork, plant-based Mamona oil (as a petroleum alternative), recycled PET, and responsibly-sourced leather.
According to the company, 100 per cent of the water used to produce its leather and suede is recycled and reused. In addition, the company uses alternative energy sources such as solar panels for a lower carbon footprint.
Ethics: Environmental, ethical, sustainable materials.
Origin: Brazil.
Coclico
Coclico took an environment-first turn in 2007 after its designer, Lisa Nading, read a book on environmentalism and manufacturing.
The brand targets slow fashion, using sustainably-sourced materials. For example, Colico’s leather is sourced from third-party certified suppliers, uses wood for heels from trees sourced from FCS Mark of Responsible forests or that are PEFC-certified for forest management.
Ethics: Environmental stewardship.
Origin: Spain.
From sustainable materials to fair practices and social enterprises, each of these sustainable footwear brands is attempting to help the planet one step at a time.
