03.02.10
GOLETA - We all need them, wear them on a daily basis, and they keep us on our feet. Shoes.
One Central Coast shoe company is taking steps to lessen its carbon footprint from the street, to your feet, and it all begins at Deckers Outdoor Corporation, based in Goleta.
Deckers headquarters stand near to the UCSB campus, where the company's founder began the movement back in 1973.
From first steps, we learn that local sourcing -- of materials for the shoes -- is at the soul of the organization.
"For this one, this is Certified-Organic cotton that they use as lining material ..."
Jaime Eschette is a Strategic Outreach Manager for Teva, one of the shoe brands under the Deckers umbrella. She explains the company prides itself on using "eco-ingredients" for its six brands:
Eschette goes down the list of brands within Deckers: "Ugg Australia, Simple Shoes, Teva-- and it is Teva, not Tee-va. Teva's actually a Hebrew word that means nature. There is Ahnu, and Mozo out of Alameda, California, and Tsubo."
With a list like that, one might think it nearly impossible to control product quality. Not the case here, Eschette explains: "Here at Deckers we're very focused on creating change throughout our entire value chain. And in the design of a shoe, we're always constantly thinking about material that we can use, how we can cut down our impact."
The company hopes to make an impact, in a positive way, when it comes to shoes or the packaging the products come in: "A lot of times, when you get a product, there's marketing material or product material on that product. It's all stuff intended for you to read and get to know a little bit more about the product and to help you purchase it. We have made a commitment to cutting down on hangtag's, so a lot of our products come with materials actually printed right on the boxes or actually on the shoes instead of on extra, additional tags."
Packaging that is necessary is sourced in an environmentally-conscious way. Boxes are made from recycled materials, using soy-based inks.
For boxless purposes, Eschette shows a bag that looks like a plastic bag but, she continues, "All of our Deckers brands use this, and it looks like an ordinary plastic bag, but it's really a biodegradable plastic." Therefore, it biodegrades in a landfill more quickly.
As if those efforts weren't enough, a new line of shoes debuting in spring of 2010 is called "Bio-D", meaning the shoes biodegrade in 20 years, as opposed to 1,000, when in anaerobic conditions, or conditions lacking oxygen.
All the eco-friendly ideas begin locally, but make an impact globally.
Eschette adds, "Deckers is deeply committed to the local community."
