Today while perusing Facebook I spotted an ad for Simple. It’s a new of shoes line from Deckers Outdoor Corporation geared completely towards environmentally friendly shoes and bags made from recycled plastics, cotton, hemp, and even car tires! Deckers Corp is also behind the uber popular Teva sandals brand, UGG (those “ugly” woll boots that surfers used to wear in Australia, now popular with preppy college girls), TSUBO, and… Deckers.
The new www.simpleshoes.com website allows users to search in several unique ways for their green shoes including vegan friendly, press (where you might have seen the shoes featured), and collection. In addition to standard “eco friendly shoes” there are several designs themed to Universities including the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Buffs), University of Wisconsin, Texas Longhorns, Stanford, Duke, and Cal Berkeley.
The whole organic cotton/hemp thing is cool but the car tires are what got me really excited. The website states that “we collect used car tires that would normally be sent to a landfill, cut them up, and then use them as outsoles on some of our shoes” an idea that has been executed on before on a smaller scale but never picked up by a major brand… until now!
In addition to shoes by Simple, there are several cool bags available from Simple. The site includes a blog and a storybook adventure site designed by Dan Price (a digital hobo who lives “simply” as he explores the nation) called the Moonlight Chronicles. Simple Shoes also has a team of thirteen sponsored surfer athletes which is pretty cool. I’ve noticed a movement in the shoe world towards sandal/slippers for guys that includes companies like Sanuk and even Nike! I’m not sure how sustainable these later two brands are as their shoes are not made from sustainable raw materials or recycled.
