In a conversation that spanned over an hour with Fionn, who won the 2019 Google Science Fair for his invention of a method of how to remove microplastics cleanly from water using a natural ferrofluid mixture, he explained this is just one of the many ways that companies are promoting themselves as “green”. Due to his high profile, Fionn has been reached out to by numerous companies to promote their products as ‘green’ and ‘environmentally friendly’, which usually he is happy to do, that is of course if their products are in fact ‘green’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ as they are being promoted as. Studying chemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Fionn has access to a lab that allows him to analyse many of the products he comes across to determine where the origin of the materials in the products comes from. In addition he is able to chemically analyse just about anything that has gone into the making of the product. It is through this method that Fionn determines whether a brand is telling the truth about their products and whether they are worth supporting.
Throughout the conversation, Fionn explained that he chemically analysed our product, which he was delighted to receive. The results were extremely interesting, the main being that our shoes really are trash! Firstly at D’BRIS we claim that our shoes are made from plastic that is partially captured from the ocean. Fionn confirmed this through his analysis of the shoe, determining that some of the plastic had in fact been exposed to the ocean. This plastic comes from local fishermen near our factory in Spain, who pass on the plastic they catch in their nets to one of our suppliers, who then makes a plastic-canvas sheet for our shoes out of this and plastic gathered from other sources, like clean-ups in landfills. The soles of D’BRIS are made from Michelin car tires that we understood came from unused car tires that didn’t pass a required safety rating. However, through his chemical analysis, Fionn confirmed that the car tires in his shoes had in fact been used in a previous life, something that had not been communicated to us by our suppliers.
Probably the trashiest part of D’BRIS Shoes is the inner soles, which are made out of scraps of EVA, PU and cork, collected from the waste and offcuts of other products that are made in our factory in Spain. You will notice in D’BRIS Shoes, that all inner soles have different patterns made up from different mixtures of the recycled trash in our factory. In the case of Fionn’s shoes when chemically analysed, he was actually able to pick up traces of tobacco, from discarded cigarette butts in the factory, that were swept up into the recycled scraps and made into his innersoles! Now we don’t promote the discarding of cigarette butts here at D’BRIS, but we are happy that in this case they were put in our shoes, instead of our rivers or oceans.
The catch-up with Fionn did in fact prove that our shoes are made of trash and his word is one that we can trust. Fionn works purely on science, truths and making the world a cleaner place! We highly recommend you to check out his projects, with his main invention of a clean way to remove microplastics from water now being developed on a large scale. Fionn is also an avid supporter of people and start-ups who create and play with new ideas that add to the sparks that may ignite good changes for a better world. This is a clear goal for us at D’BRIS Shoes.
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Today, D'BRIS and GUTTA SOLES are announcing the first prototypes of the ReKast collaboration that will be available via digital auction starting on December 2nd 2021 at 18h CET throught December 9th 2021, 18h CET.
These prototypes consist of original D'BRIS shoe bases made of ocean plastic and car tires, designed by GUTTA SOLES. All materials were sourced, supplied, and curated by the GUTTA SOLES production team in Accra, Ghana; including recycled fishing nets from local fishermen on the Korle Lagoon in Accra; as well as beading and hand sewn fabrics.
As a shipping bonus, each pair will be shipped in a GUTTA SOLES up-cycled shoe bag/rucksack made from recycled fishing net, up-cycled cocoa sacks, and recycled fabrics from Ghana.
ReKast shoes highlight the necessity to unite the global fashion industry as one sustainable movement. This collection will not only bring awareness to consumers, but also give the world a one-of-a-kind, exclusive sneaker with minimal impact the environment through its production.
GUTTA SOLES is a sustainable custom handmade footwear produced with recycled tires and African prints. They are produced in Ghana, with Ghanian materials, labor and creativity, with the proceeds of their collections reinvested directly into local communities through THE GUTTA SOLES FOUNDATION.
]]>At the rate new plastic is produced, trying to solve the plastic pollution problem with recycling feels like saving a sinking ship with a teaspoon. Yet, it’s too often treated as a disposal problem which only favors the companies who make billions of dollars producing new plastic at an ever increasing rate.
The truth is that plastic harms the environment not only after it’s lifetime, but through the entire lifecycle of the plastic product.
First there is the extraction and refining of oil, the oil is then made through chemical reactions into solid plastic and then pellets which are used to make different kinds of plastic products. All these steps obviously require energy and transportation in between and there are also the risks of spills of both oil and plastic pellets (among many other issues).
Many of the plastic products are designed to be only used once. Much of it is packaging. After being used it usually ends up being burned in a landfill or in nature. Only a small portion is recycled.
Compared to many other materials, plastic is not that good for recycling. Many plastics cannot be recycled at all, and when they can, usually they can be recycled only once or twice. For example, a PET bottle can not be made into a new bottle.This is because the heating process makes the polymer chains shorter which makes the quality poorer. Instead the bottles typically are made into a polyester yarn which then for example can be used as a canvas for an awesome pair of shoes. That is great of course, but sadly there is no way to recycle the plastic again once the shoes are worn out.
So eventually all plastic will end up, once again, being burnt, in a landfill or in nature, no matter if disposed of in the recycle bin in the first place.
Burning the plastic is often presented as a good solution as we get rid of the waste and it creates energy. However, this obviously creates CO2 emissions, it’s like burning oil, just disguised as plastic, and once again takes focus from the deceitful corporations, so they can keep drilling for their oil and profits from ruining our planet.
The point is not that recycling is bad or unnecessary, after all we use recycled material for our shoes. But we think it’s more important that the source of the problem is addressed. If sitting in a boat that takes in water, and all you have is a teaspoon, we’d definitely start scooping. However, stopping the leak needs to be the first priority. That is why we need to drastically reduce our use of plastics, especially single use plastics. #rethinkconsumption
“Mermaid tears” found on a beach. These are small pieces of plastic which have broken down and shaped into small round pieces by sand and waves. Some of them are also pellets spilled or dumped into the water by the plastic industry. |
Most cigarettes have plastic filters - called cellulose acetate. Like most plastic, the cigarette filters also decompose very slowly and they easily end up in waterways and eventually in the ocean. Like the plastic itself wasn’t bad enough, the filters are also full of toxins that can be harmful to both plants and animals.
Despite all of this, many don’t consider cigarette butts as litter, and too many smokers keep flicking their butts on the ground. Lack of awareness seems to be the main reason why this continues, why we at D’BRIS decided to shine some light on the problem.
We met up with Bodil Forsgaard, a local hero and artist devoted to fighting cigarette pollution, and together we collected cigarette butts for 3 hours in Copenhagen. It ended up being a great experience with many people coming up and thanking us and even helping out. We didn’t cover much ground but yet we managed to collect about 6300 cigarettes. There is no doubt that this problem is serious and we hope that we managed to provide some inspiration to the local community to better understand the severity of cigarette litter.
This is what 6300 cigarette butts look like. Next time we will go bigger!
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