Shoes, according to Galahad Clark, are among the most environmentally damaging consumer products. He should know. He is a sixth-generation member of the country’s best-known shoe empire, Clarks.

His father was a director of the Somerset company and his grandfather before him. The family stepped back from the day-to-day running of the business in the mid-1990s, but his father still took over a small shoe factory in Northampton where Clark learnt the basics.

If anyone is qualified to talk about shoes, it’s him. “They are awful things,” he said. “They are bad for the environment. Shoe-making is one of the most polluting industries in the world.”

At the age of 26 he decided to try to change that, and bought Terra Plana, a shoe firm that had collapsed, with a plan to turn it into the world’s most eco-friendly footwear firm.

“I liked the brand. It had environmental leanings and was based on a simple design and used local materials. I thought I would do it for a year or two because I was determined not to get into the family business,” said Clark.

Seven years later, he is still running Terra Plana. The brand is a mere dot compared with the family firm, which turned over £1 billion last year, but Clark has big plans for it. He wants to make green shoes for the mass market — though that is not as easy as making an organic cotton T-shirt.

The environmental crimes of shoe manufacturing are deep rooted and extensive. They start with the raw materials: leather, rubber, glue, metal and plastics. Getting these ingredients to a factory, most likely in China, costs thousands of carbon miles. The leather may come from Brazil, the rubber from Africa and the metal from Russia.

Putting shoes together is an energy-intensive process. The cheapest ones on the market will be made of about 30 components, which involves much gluing. Once complete, they have to be packaged and shipped to the shops.

“There are many ways to skin the eco cat in shoe-making,” said Clark, “but we decided to tackle leather first.” It is the main ingredient and the most egregious on the environmental front.

First, its origin must be considered. Does it come from cattle that have been raised on cleared Amazonian forest land? If so, forget about slapping on the eco stamp. How has it been treated? Traditional tanneries use chemicals to treat hides. This has led to effluents polluting streams and rivers.

Terra Plana uses leather from tanneries in China, located near its factory. More than 60% is tanned using vegetable extracts. The rest comes from tanneries that have certificates proving they are not polluting the water. Although vegetable-tanned leather can cost twice as much as the traditional variety, Clark thought the environmental advantages were worth the expense. At least he did until he spent a few hours on board the Rainbow Warrior ship with Greenpeace.

“It was docked in London for a few days last year. They invited some eco-friendly companies on. We were sitting round, having an organic cider and I was telling the Greenpeace guys about how we use all this great leather. Next thing they told me about their ‘Slaughtering the Amazon’ campaign.

“I always thought that leather was a by-product of the meat industry but, no — they are clearing vast amounts of land for shoes and bags. That made me sit up and listen.”

Inspired by his new friends at Greenpeace, Clark launched a range of leather-free or “vegan” shoes in March. The shoes are crafted from man-made leather or an eco-nylon that is made from a partrecycled plastic. A pound from every sale goes to the Greenpeace campaign. So far almost £15,000 has been raised.

Like all Terra Plana’s shoes, the inner sole is made from recycled foam. The outer sole is made from recycled rubber. Where possible, the parts are stitched together, not glued. When glue is used, it is water based, and dyes are non-toxic.

All materials are sourced from within 100 miles of the south China factory. Increasingly, Clark is trying to incorporate more recycled materials. A mesh made from plastic bottles has been used in the upper.

Why not just make a shoe entirely from recycled products? “We tried that,” said Clark. “It was called the Worn Again shoe. We used jeans, car tyres, coats, shirts, army uniforms, car mats — any rubbish we could lay our hands on — but it didn’t work. The product wasn’t durable and we had a return rate of more than 10%.”

Terra Plana sells direct and wholesale. It has outlets in London, Brighton and New York but the shops don’t scream green. “The environmental shoe story is not that powerful from a consumer point of view. Women are worse because they want more shoes, more often,” he said.

The solution is to make shoes people like to wear and to look at. “We are ultimately in the fashion game,” said Clark. “If people don’t think they look cool, we’ve failed.”

Terra Plana had sales of £7m last year. The wholesale arm, which supplies Selfridges and other upmarket stores, was profitable but the retail side lost money after an ill-fated decision to open in the Westfield centre in west London. Its mid-priced range didn’t stand a chance.

This year Clark expects both the wholesale and retail arms to be profitable on projected turnover of £10m. His ambition, though, is not to get rich. “I want to shake up the shoe world. It’s a big job but we’re getting closer.”

Source: Business Times Online