British Stella McCartney designer continues to make her mark as a symbol of sustainable design, and her new sneakers follow the path of sustainable fashion. Since 2001, when Stella opened her own brand in a joint venture with Gucci Group (now Kering Group), she promoted an ethical and cruelty-free philosophy and opposed the use of leather, fur, fur and feathers in her runways and collections.
This statement and philosophy, followed by an action plan, affected every business decision while differentiating the brand from the rest of the luxury industry around it. It was a very bold decision. Since then, the brand has maintained this state of mind and has moved forward each year.
The brand has adopted an honest and conscious approach that shares the complexity of using faux materials that are not biodegradable, made from acrylic, polyester, wool and mohair. It encourages its customers to care for their items as long as possible, communicating that luxury is forever.
Using the environmental profit and loss tool invented by the Kering group, Stella McCartney is measuring its business impact since 2012. Every step of the business is measured, from raw materials to the manufacturing process to in-store sales.
The tool measures greenhouse gas emissions, water use, water pollution, land use, air pollution and waste across the global supply chain and then translates into a monetary value, mapping the hidden costs and benefits of each operation. These insights drive company innovation and help make better, more sustainable decisions, such as using GOTS-certified cotton, and also using Gold standard Cradle to Cradle Certified wool for its knitwear.
"Reclypse" Vegan Sneakers by Stella McCartney
Vegan leather: since 2013, Stella McCartney has been using alter-nappa for shoes and bags. This material is made of polyester and polyurethane with recycled polyester backing. The coating is made with more than 50% vegetable oil, a renewable natural resource. By changing polyurethanes to water-based and solvent-free polyurethanes, it’s safer for people to work with and requires little energy and water consumption in the production process. At the same time, they have been exploring lab-grown leather as a more progressive approach to materials.
Stella McCartney’s "Recylpse" sneakers are Vegan, consciously manufactured with non-leather materials and free of animal cruelty. In this collection released last year, which also includes a line of socks, Stella McCartney confirms her sustainability efforts, now with an eco-friendly sneaker silhouette called Reclypse.
For the shoe's upper, the designer used as an innovative raw material a recycled polyester for the shoe's innovative raw material, a recycled polyester and a lining made of ECONYL® regenerated nylon from post-consumer waste, fishing nets and carpets. Being 100% animal cruelty-free, the Stella McCartney Reclypse sneaker tips are made with vegan leather on the panels in contrast to the mesh.
In compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, Stella McCartney is wholly committed to protecting human rights throughout its entire supply chain, and this has been its primary focus for the last six years.
Due to increased labels of migration and the complexity of supply chains, forced labor is still a modern issuee, and so Stella McCartney complies with Section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 as well as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 to uphold transparent operations.