You’d be forgiven for thinking the answer is ‘make wine.’ Who wouldn’t in a world where the day-to-day forecast seems to be 97.3% chance of wine nowadays?
This is about something a bit more intriguing. We’re just making assumptions, of course. Maybe you aren’t impressed by technology until it lets you download actual wine.
But, what if technology would grant you the pleasure of wearing shoes made from God’s nectar?
This isn't talk from a self-inducted ‘sommelier’ at your work’s water cooler. This is a story about a lovechild birthed from leftovers and waste in the wine industry.
Plunge into the waters of a divine glass of red and meet our darling vitigna; one of the recyclable and sustainable wine leathers and star players in our shoe collections.
Vegan leather shoes. Handmade with tender loving care in Italy
Scents of peach and apricot carried in the breeze, shimmering lakes, lemon gelato dripping in the heat haze...
We wouldn’t hold it against you if you were to accuse us of choosing to make our shoes in Italy for its lingering beauty. Don’t let us (or anyone else) tell you otherwise.
While it’s not entirely untrue, we chose Italy due to it being the number one wine producer in the world, annually producing 18% of the world’s wine.
Made by hand in Italy, the vegan leather draping the shoes, named vitigna, is made from grape marc; which includes the skins, seeds, and stalks from the grape; unloved leftovers from making the very bottle of red or white you find in your local wine boutique. Or perhaps, as a glass in your hand on the occasional Friday afternoon.
The vegan leather we use didn’t come to life by chance. It was birthed from the idea to collide wine material from grape marc with the technology and machinery from the leather-making industry, merging the finer things from both worlds.
Vegan wine leather. Made from winemaking leftovers.
After the grape juice has been extracted to make a divine bottle of wine, the grape seeds, stalks and skins are dried in a process that conveniently enough and purposefully so, produces reusable water.
After drying, the grape marc undergoes chemical treatment, compounding, and finishing; coming to life on the heels and shoes and flats you can peruse here.
Unlike the production of animal leather, our wine leather supplier's process uses no polluting chemicals or heavy metals and uses very little additional water.
Why wine leather, you ask. It’s rather simple. Wine leather is sustainable and recyclable; which was a given for our mission to create sustainable shoes that are as eccentric as your style, and plant kisses on Mother Earth.
What’s considered trash in the wine industry, turns out to be a treasure in the sustainable shoe industry.
