Footwear sample development — can we achieve zero waste?
Massive waste and pollution generated during footwear and apparel manufacturing is finally getting well deserved global attention, with everything from carbon emissions to raw materials and transportation under a microscope. But what about the other villain in the footwear pre-production and sample phase? While sustainable raw material sourcing for production manufacturing is a large part of the equation, what I want to address here is the massive volume of samples the footwear industry has produced and consider some of the many alternatives we have that create less negative impact to our planet.
Development prototypes and sales samples have, for many years, been a necessity among brands worldwide in many industries. The question for all of us in footwear, where do these shoes go? What happens to the countless pairs is hard to say or quantify. Sadly, many of us have witnessed hundreds of pairs of single piece development and sales samples thrown in the garbage over our footwear industry careers.
In some cases, during development, numerous pattern iterations, colors and materials are reviewed and developed before final designs are approved. Each footwear brand has had their own system for archiving, storage and removal of samples. We are accountable for massive quantities of sample shoes being made before actual manufacturing and distribution to the end consumer. The footwear and apparel industries alone are responsible for approximately eight percent of pollution globally. The impact on climate change from the footwear and apparel industries has increased roughly thirty-five percent since 2005 and is on track to continue increasing unless major changes take place according to the 2018 Quantas Environmental Impact study of the Global Apparel and Footwear.
Looking back to the late 1980s through 1990s, early in my footwear career, I recall and verified with other longtime footwear industry veterans that some sample pieces and pairs during development were punched or had a hole drilled through the sole. This resulted in them being unfit for resale or donation. Fortunately, I haven’t seen any signs of this “hole punched” method of sampling and waste by brands in numerous.
On a positive note, I recall donating single shoes to an organization called One Shoe Crew while working at Ariat in the 1990s and being grateful for this alternative. We now have wonderful organizations such as Soles4Souls and can donate shoes globally to those in need. Recently, I worked with the Two Ten Foundation on facilitating shipping of hundreds of pairs of sales and old development samples to hurricane victims. These positive alternatives make a significant social and environmental impact.
Throughout the years it was common for footwear wholesale sales teams of anything from 2 to over 100 people to hit the road and air with huge footwear sample cases every fall and spring season. If a shoe got dropped from the collection once sales samples were produced, those hundreds of pairs could either be sold if they didn’t have holes in the bottom and some just disappeared. Often, sales teams would only get a half pair selling sample so there was nothing to match it with. These singles looked pretty ragged after travel to trade shows and many store visits so they couldn’t be recycled or reused.
Fast forward about fifteen to twenty years and digital catalogs have become more prevalent. The impact on our environment has lessened slightly for several reasons. While there is still massive waste, fewer prototype development and sales samples are being made by many brands I have worked with over the past 10 years, resulting in less material usage and cost savings. Additionally, less travel for these sales teams and fewer samples being shipped around the world means fewer carbon emissions.
Online brands, offering solely Direct-To-Consumer products, remove the need for all those sales samples that used to fill a sales person’s car. Clearly, the quantities have been reduced by these brands in particular, but by how much impact it has had on the footwear industry in general is minimal and difficult to quantify. Today, traditional wholesale brands with sales teams continue to far outnumber online only footwear vendors, making the issue critical to consider.
The sample creation process with many pattern iterations, colors, materials and more being developed must be addressed. The good news is that we have numerous options available. As an industry, I believe it is our obligation to work toward drastically reducing the high volume of footwear samples developed since that is the biggest culprit. This takes a lot of planning and effort from all departments within an organization from marketing to design, sales, planning and production.
A wonderful outcome of the advancements in 3D rendering and printing technologies such as and amazing 3D software such as Modo and Rhino have been to provide viewers and decision makers with tangible 3D visuals and models as a possible replacement for excessive sampling and material waste. This could offer the benefit of time savings and the possibility of quicker to market alternatives. Fortunately, designers and brands of the future will rely on this more sustainable option.
It also goes without saying that we must strive to use sustainable and ethical materials and practices throughout the entire product life cycle. We need to educate ourselves further on options for donating unused and excess pairs to organizations as part of a brand’s mission. There could be opportunities for brands to disassemble unneeded sample shoes and resell or utilize parts again vs. creating trash. Technology allows us to continue creating and improving our ability to offer digital alternatives to physical samples.
Earlier this year I co-founded and launched an online footwear brand, the BENDY by Ashbury Skies. This issue of waste around sample making and disposal has been at the forefront in my mind due to my observations over the years. How could I make a difference when launching a small unknown brand? It is my belief that every bit helps and while we have a long way to go, each BENDY sample requested is considered through a critical lens.
Two years into the process and 15 total samples are in my cabinet (3 are missing from the photo). For colors we are 100% sure of such as Black and Denim, no sample was made and we went straight to manufacturing. We also create samples in our own sizes, 7 & 9, so that they can be wear tested by us versus making multiple samples.
A key factor to reducing and eliminating footwear sample waste will be for brands industry wide to assess their own sampling process. After evaluating my perspective on sample waste and gaining a better understanding of where the footwear industry has been, I am as determined as ever for BENDY to stay true to our mission of creating an ethical footwear brand manufactured in California.
Caroline de Baere is a 30-year footwear industry veteran with expertise and testifying experience in Intellectual Property cases. She is a footwear design Professor at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Caroline recently co-founded the BENDY by Ashbury Skies, an ethically manufactured footwear brand producing shoes in California.