Simple: Sustainability at its very best
What could be cooler to a little boy than wearing shoes made, at least in part, of recycled tires? If there is something cooler, don’t bother making your case to our 4-year-old Owen because he can’t be convinced of it. Since receiving his ‘Eco-Sneaks’ from Simple two weeks ago, he’s been telling just about anyone who will listen that the bottoms of his shoes used to be tires. Like, real tires. That spun around on a real car. On a real highway! How cool is that?
From recycled car tires to recycled water bottles to recycled inner tubes, Simple has already devoted itself to creating shoes for women and men that are 100% sustainable. Recently the company applied that same eco-friendly approach to a new line of children’s shoes. We were lucky enough to receive two sample pairs from Simple, and trust me, cool doesn’t even begin to cover these shoes.
The Skippies in rabbit/adriatic blue ($42; shown at intro of review and again at right) are part of Simple’s ‘Eco-Sneaks’ product line, which make use a variety of recycled and post-consumer products on their journey to becoming shoes. An organic cotton upper is paired with an organic cotton lining, making the shoe incredibly breathable. The foot forms are made of 100% post consumer paper pulp and the sidewall, toecap and heelcap are made of vulcanized (weatherproof) rubber. The tires, as you now know, are made of recycled tires and the laces are made of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) — a fancy name for recyled plastic bottles.
Besides the tire factor, Owen loves wearing these shoes because he finds the polka dots "funny" (oh, to be a 4-year-old); In addition to loving how they look and how they’re made, I love that they’re actually really, really well constructed shoes. The padding used in the tongue and ankle areas is substantial and — for a lace-up tennis shoe — they are extremely sturdy. There’s ample support for all the bending and shifting a toddler does while out and about, and the recycled tire outsole gives great traction. The Skippies are available in toddler sizes 10-13 and kid sizes 1-6.
Have a pregnant girlfriend who goes gaga for all things green? Get her a pair of of Simple’s new infant shoes. We sampled the Weebit in adriatic blue ($24; shown at left) and it really would make the perfect new baby gift for an eco-friendly mama. Weebit consists of a hemp upper with organic cotton lining, and the elastic around the ankle is recycled PET and latex elastic. A screened ‘Green Piggies’ logo on the outsole helps to give crawlers and new walkers some traction in their efforts to get up and go, and a deco piggie made of felt from the excess wool of shorn sheep adorns each pair. Even the packaging is adorably sustainable: Weebit comes in a post-consumer recycled box, in the shape of a truck. Each of Simple’s infant shoes come in 3 sizes: Size 1 = 0-6 months, size 2 = 6-12 months and size 3 = 12-18 months.
Simple shoes have opened up a great dialog for Owen and I. Once he overcame the novelty of walking around in his "polka-dot tire shoes," he (like most 4-year-olds) wanted to know why anyone would bother to make shoes out of tires. And while I know he’s too young to understand the finer points of air pollution and tire incineration, he’s not too young to grasp the concept of avoiding waste. So we’ve talked to him about things like tires having more than one purpose, and about how it’s silly to throw things away that we can use again and again. With a company philosophy of "HOW we make our shoes is just as important as WHY we make them," a pair of Simples are a purchase you can feel good about — each and every time you lace them up.
To purchase the Skippies or the Weebit, or any of Simple’s other styles, click here.
