Purified Plastic Free Shoes

What is PURIFIED? 

Ali writes: After many years working in ethical fashion, I know how hard it is to source and produce totally plastic-free footwear. I recently met up with the team behind Purified, at The Mills Fabrica, and later chatted in depth with Will Verona designer and cofounder, to find out more.

At the event, Sian Sutherland keynote speaker (Co-Founder A Plastic Planet + PlasticFree, pictured below) introduced Will Verona, designer and co-founder, Sian: “we make 50 BILLION sneakers every year. It accounts for 1.4% of our carbon budget – compare that with 2.5% for aviation.”

I’ll share some video footage from the event over on instagram, meanwhile, here’s my interview with Charlie and Will.

Charlie writes: PURIFIED is a London-based shoe brand creating 100% plastic-free footwear, solely from natural materials. The shoes are also proven to enrich the soil – more than industry-standard compost – when we bury them after final wear. Ultimately, PURIFIED was created to inspire a change in the shoe industry’s reliance on synthetic materials and toxic glues that lead to waste and environmental degradation, but also worse shoe quality and comfort. We’re proud because our 100% natural shoes enable you to “return to earth” with every step, before they safely rejoin the natural cycle after years of wear.

What inspired Will to start your journey? 

In 2017 when Will was designing for another shoe company he went on a factory trip to Sri Lanka. There he came across this shocking sight: a 50-meter high mountain of plastic waste called Meethotamulla. The locals called it ‘Trash mountain’ which would later collapse, killing a number of villagers in a landslide. With 25 billion shoes produced each year and almost all unrecyclable, Will knew something needed to change. Whether it was toxic trash dumps or toxic chemicals leaking into the soil, the shoe industry was doing nothing to remedy the situation. That situation, ultimately, is the planet but also human health. With that in his head, and a long pandemic spent at home to design and strategise, PURIFIED began. 

What’s been the hardest thing about creating a sustainable sneaker brand from scratch?

Where to start? The challenge of relying on scientific practices was always difficult but with the help of some great partners who weren’t standard industry suppliers helped us blend creativity in design to create something not only with purpose, but make it desirable and profitable.

Starting PURIFIED was a whole new way of working, and we had to be patient as it took almost four years to get to market. It was also a case of knowing what we wanted and that was working with the best possible plant based innovations possible. However, we didn’t necessarily know how to define what that meant. Would the shoe be biodegradable? Would it be low carbon? Would it be recyclable? Asking these questions early helped us discover our niche and find our stance along the way.

How is starting with sustainability at the core different from retrofitting it into an existing brand?

Will writes: I can’t lie – to some extent it makes it easier. It took us four years to develop our sneakers because there was no compromise. There were technical and price point challenges along the way with the product, but I was always sure to refer back to our key goal of zero plastic footwear. Brands who aren’t all in on their sustainability goals would be far more likely to compromise, something we know is still the scourge of many major fashion brands. Brands who try to include a “sustainable pack” will always face the question of it being more of a gimmick than a change in design ethos. It’s so often a marketing ploy as we’ve seen with many greenwashing accusations over the last few years. Therefore, the idea of being completely focused on a sustainability ethos can only really come from a brand starting from the outset. It would be too expensive and a logistical nightmare to completely switch over so I’m really proud we began with planet-focused values and built on them, even if it meant the process was more complicated. 

What changes have you seen in the industry since you first started?

I think the industry has really started to take to next gen materials. When I started I would go to sourcing fairs and be battered with greenwashing and fake “eco” initiatives, that were incredibly underwhelming (if not frustrating). As a result I basically had to turn my back on the industry and work exclusively with next gen material makers. Often we would be the first to use these materials on shoes, so it would involve plenty of trial and error and a longer process. However, now there is a growing sense of the industry adopting new game changing ideas; Established suppliers partnering with next gen material makers is a radical combination and it is hugely exciting to see.

What would you like to see change further?

Well, I’d love to see more brands working together on the Zero-Plastic mission, to support next gen materials and bring them to market. Really, the footwear industry can often be a protective and secretive space but working with next gen materials is very different to working with established suppliers. It’s more like a project with many technical elements to figure out so you do have to be more patient. However, through brands working together, sharing knowledge it could accelerate a wide scale adoption. There might be risks for the developers bringing these materials to market but for a collective of brands to make a cohesive pact to say, we will use “x” amount of material, but also share information on how to get the best out of them could be extremely powerful. Fingers crossed, I say.

How hard was it in terms of finding the right people to work with when starting out?

Finding people is not a challenge; people buy into our concept and want to get involved. The challenge is building the right structure. Being a start up we must be incredibly strategic and analyse exactly what we need and where we can get the most added benefit. It’s not only a case of where we can invest the money but also the time. Thankfully, this is made easier with partners like Bananatex and NFW who have been an enormous help along the way.

What advice do you wish you’d had when you started out four years ago?

To see the technical challenges less as problems but more as big opportunities. The project had plenty of hurdles to overcome but these weren’t just issues we faced but ones of the entire industry.

Someone at the factory used to say to me “if it was easy, everyone would do it this way”, so that became the challenge; resolve these problems with easy solutions so that everyone could benefit. Through adopting this mindset, It became a lot less frustrating.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting to design or start a sustainability-centred product? 

It isn’t easy, but trust me, it’s worth it. Stick to your ethos and don’t compromise even if it may seem easy. There will be technical challenges and in those moments people will try to provide you solutions that you know aren’t right and it can be tempting to agree to it because it’s a step forward. In those moments you have to always consider “what is this product trying to achieve” and that should guide you most. For example, one issue we had was with the machinery used to sew the upper to the sole in Portugal, but we designed new machinery to make it happen. And I’m very glad we did. 

I think there is a balance to perfection. You should always seek it out because it’s a way to continuously improve. However, sometimes you have to fail to succeed. We went through about 200 prototypes before we had our final shoe and for that reason you can’t allow perfection to come in the way of progress.

What do you say to small UK brands who would still use plastic in their shoes? 

I started at this point too. When I first looked at designing shoes there were an insane amount of steps to making a zero-plastic shoe. In fact, everyone I was speaking to called PURIFIED’s ABACA and HEVEA the “impossible shoes.” But here we are. With pioneering companies like NFW and Bananatex on the map and with hard work in both sourcing and designing we made the impossible possible. I would urge small UK brands to consider their ethos and not be scared of making the commitment because the key stakeholder in so many business decisions is the planet, and we need to protect it.

You focus a lot on the phrase “return to earth”. What does that mean to you and the PURIFIED brand? 

Return to earth is our slogan and represents our philosophy; both of shoes returning to earth and enriching the soil after final wear, but also how the brand inspires the rekindling of a relationship between humans and their respect for the planet and nature. 

What’s next for PURIFIED? 

What I find so exciting is that this is just the start. It was a long journey getting here but we are always looking at ways to improve our shoes, their circularity and their impact on the environment. So far we’ve met some amazing people along the way who are always keen to share further advice and insight, and learning from innovators in the space will only enhance our product and lessen the impact of the shoe industry on the planet. Ultimately, inspiring a real change in the industry and providing our customers with the best plastic-free products which are stylish, comfortable and inspire a return to earth the better.

Find Purifed footwear here: https://purified.eco/