One Step at a Time
Ethical footwear brand Flamingos’ Life is a fashionable force for good
Brought up in the family business of footwear, Carlos García Sánchez always knew his own venture would revolve around social and environmental responsibility. In 2015, he founded Flamingos’ Life, an ecologically and ethically conscious footwear brand.
Organic, pesticide-free cotton, recycled plastic waste, natural corn residue and sustainably sourced rubber are handcrafted into Flamingos’ trainers, with absolutely no animal products involved. As the brand has developed, it’s also committed to tackling specific environmental and social issues with each new collection it releases.
Take the Roland design, for example. Working in collaboration with the Brussels-based NGO Waste Free Oceans, local fishermen, recycling companies and political bodies, Flamingos’ Life is aiming to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic waste that’s polluting the world’s waters.
“Five days before the [Spanish] state of emergency was announced we decided to work from home. It’s been really simple to adapt, with the technology available we’ve been able to keep all departments running at 100%,” says Carlos.
Each pair of Roland shoes contains roughly two recycled plastic bottles, giving polluting, wildlife-endangering plastic new life as a conscious fashion item. To date, the brand’s recycled over 21,000 plastic bottles.
The company’s most recent Rancho collection marks its move into using natural hemp, a material known for its low water consumption during growth, durability, and high CO2 absorption rate. “All that makes it an ideal alternative to leather or plastic, [which are] far more polluting,” Carlos tells me.
For each Rancho pair that’s bought, Flamingos’ plants 5 trees in collaboration with NGO Eden Reforestation Projects. The joint initiative focuses on reforesting areas of Madagascar and Mozambique to preserve precious mangrove ecosystems, revive natural habitats for rare wildlife and provide local employment opportunities. Currently, the results stand at some 124,800 trees planted and 3,990 working hours generated.
Carlos’ pro-environment convictions are adamant: “We’re literally killing the planet. We’ve been doing it for 50 years but the authorities concerned haven’t been aware or haven’t wanted to take sides.”
As well as promoting environmentally conscious fashion practices, Flamingos’ is holding the questionable ethics of the fashion industry to account. Fast fashion prioritises profit over fair payment and worker well-being, particularly as major brands outsource manufacturing to less wealthy areas of the world.
In 2018, Flamingos’ took the decision to recentralise the brand’s entire production process. Moving manufacturing from Asia back to Carlos’ local city of Elche in southeastern Spain was an important step towards ensuring total transparency within the company’s supply chain.
Producing their trainers using local, artisanal, and ethically sound Spanish companies ensures there’s no exploitation within Flamingos’ production processes. By arranging local suppliers for everything from textiles to shoeboxes, they’re also reducing their carbon footprint further.
Flamingos’ recent collaboration with sustainable fashion consultancy BCOME has confirmed fair working conditions across its entire supply chain, from growing raw materials to cutting the trainers’ signature ‘F’s.
Scaling down to local production was a multi-impact decision at the time, reinforcing the brand’s climate-conscious and ethical approach. One additional, unforeseen element of that change is its direct impact on Flamingos’ ability to stay up and running during coronavirus lockdown.
“Five days before the [Spanish] state of emergency was announced we decided to work from home. It’s been really simple to adapt, with the technology available we’ve been able to keep all departments running at 100%,” says Carlos.
Asked how the pandemic has affected the brand’s sustainability goals, Carlos is clear that there’s a lot the fashion sector, as well as society at large, can learn from this unprecedented situation.
“We can take positive lessons from the pandemic (with all due respect and empathy towards those who have suffered or whose relatives have fallen ill). We have to ask ourselves if the life we were leading was the right one to be healthy and happy.”
“I think the role of the state is going to become fundamental to enabling us to save the planet in the coming years. It’s an effort all institutions have to make: state, businesses and consumers, all for one.”
Carlos has been following the positive environmental impact of lockdown closely, as dramatic reductions in air, sea, and road travel — for both goods and people — has had a significant effect. “It’s let the planet breathe,” he says.
But for real change to come from this crisis, there needs to be a consciously collaborative effort to change the priorities of regulating authorities, fashion companies and consumers, Carlos tells me.
“I think the role of the state is going to become fundamental to enabling us to save the planet in the coming years. It’s an effort all institutions have to make: state, businesses and consumers, all for one.”
