As Creative Director at SaiKuts, I encountered a distinctive challenge – crafting a brand named Rekut to revolutionize the fashion and footwear industry through sustainable practices. Initiated as a collaboration with Puma, the project evolved into a white-label production brand, supplying sustainable products to other footwear companies such as Tretorn and Volcom.
Challenge: The fashion and footwear industry grapples with significant sustainability issues, marked by environmental impacts from excessive waste and resource consumption. The Rekut project emerged to tackle these challenges, focusing on repurposing dead stock denim and cotton, particularly in the creation of sneakers. Our primary goal was transforming waste materials into sustainable eco-sneakers and garments, with key sustainability objectives:
- Reduce energy consumption in manufacturing.
- Minimize the use of virgin raw materials.
- Divert materials from landfills to prevent pollution.
The overarching vision aimed at establishing circular manufacturing processes, wherein waste from one product serves as raw material for the next, aligning with the pursuit of a Net Zero waste model – a crucial endeavour amid environmental concerns.
Objectives:
- Address sustainability issues in the fashion and footwear industry using deadstock materials.
- Create sustainable eco-sneakers and garments.
- Establish a circular manufacturing model to significantly reduce waste and resource consumption.
Solution: Our approach involved crafting a range of sneakers by dismantling jeans, coupled with eco-friendly sole units made from Lactaue Hevea and Boom foam.
Implementation: Implementing this solution required collaboration with multiple manufacturers and processes to create a single sustainable sneaker. Although the eco-friendly sole units were pricier than conventional EVA soles, the compelling sustainability narrative resonated with clients and customers, resulting in increased sales and demand for eco-friendly fashion and footwear.
Results: The Rekut project achieved remarkable success, securing white-label contracts with renowned companies and driving notable sustainability impacts:
- Collaboration with Tretorn on the Ghost Net Nylite sneaker, incorporating discarded fishing nets.
- Partnership with EcoAlf for the first fully sustainable sneaker using harvested fishing nets and Bloom foam algae EVA sole units.
- Collaborations with brands like Everlane and White Stuff, fostering a broader commitment to sustainable fashion.
- Development of innovative washes and concepts for Nike and Converse, encouraging sustainability adoption among industry leaders.
Lessons Learned: The Rekut project provided valuable insights into sustainability, collaboration, and innovation within the fashion and footwear industry. Overcoming challenges, including navigating circular manufacturing complexities and persuading clients to embrace eco-friendly products, demanded persistence, innovation, and effective communication.
Conclusion: The transformative journey of the Rekut project yielded a robust brand and eco-friendly products. While the brand had the potential for independent commercial success, we chose not to push it to market. My role encompassed brand creation, creative direction, designing presentations and films on factories, and developing sneaker designs, requiring a diverse set of design skills that served as a potent tool for business development and idea generation.
This case study underscores the crucial role of sustainability in transforming the fashion and footwear industry, with the Rekut project exemplifying sustainable innovation and creative direction. It demonstrates how sustainable practices can drive positive change in an industry grappling with significant environmental challenges.
Initially established as a sustainable footwear initiative, REKUT has undergone a transformative evolution, now serving as both an equal rights champion and an inclusive employer. Recognizing the global reality that approximately 15% of the population faces various forms of disability, with 2-4% encountering substantial challenges in daily functioning, society has struggled to implement widespread, impactful solutions for their integration. In leveraging REKUT as a catalyst for positive change, its mission extends beyond sustainable products to instigate a movement.
This movement seeks to provide deserving opportunities to individuals from marginalized backgrounds, fostering a commitment to both social and environmental justice. REKUT has shifted its focus from solely sustainable footwear to actively mainstreaming individuals from vulnerable and marginalized communities, embodying a broader vision of inclusivity and equality.
