Beach umbrellas and sails turned into the most sustainable shoes in the world with RE49

In the province of Udine, in Italy, a start-up company produces the most sustainable shoe in the world: RE49, which will be exhibiting at Pitti Immagine Uomo in June, embraces sustainability and circular economy across all stages of production, and creates vegan, limited-edition shoes, ensuring full transparency through the Blockchain technology.

The founders, who are experts and passionate about slow fashion in the footwear industry, lead a team of artists and artisans that transform recycled materials into works of art to be worn with pride. “Reducing our environmental impact has been our top priority since day one. At RE49, we are proud to have reinvented the way we produce shoes, by redefining our family business into an innovative start-up company that preserves the environment. This way, from a traditional leather shoe production, we are now creating shoes with recycled, recovered, vegan materials that are otherwise wasted and could easily end up in landfill sites”, says Nicola Masolini, visionary and CEO of RE49.

RE49 shoes are made of recycled beach chairs, sails, fabrics and tyres: waste materials are regenerated and cleaned without further processing, ensuring a drastic cut on CO2 emissions. The company is also investing in novel solutions to minimise the amount of material they use in the first place and reduce waste.

“At RE49, innovating, changing and making the difference for future generations means applying a radical circular economy model with transparency”, says Alberto Ciani, CMO and Innovation Leader at RE49, and adds that “the company applies the Blockchain technology to guarantee full transparency of materials and production process. Moreover, RE49 offers its know-how and innovative solutions to other companies that want to add value to discarded materials and create new resources from them”.

At RE49, the production method is 100% carbon neutral, with the objective to reduce the footprint to zero in less than five years, by switching to renewable energy and partnering with companies that share their values and preserve the environment.

And, in the spirit of “Less is more”, RE49 takes extra effort to increase the durability of the shoes, which are all-season appropriate. Also, the company is working on a method to minimise waste by creating a closed-loop circular economy solution and re-converting used shoes into a new product, when their functional cycle comes to an end.