It is always good to discover brands already born with the desire to be sustainable and if they are made in Italy, even better! This is the case of Womsh, a sneaker brand created in 2014 by Gianni della Mora in Vigonza, Padua, whose mission is to spread love and respect for the environment.
Womsh is the acronym of ‘Word Of Mouth Shoes’ (therefore the intrinsic will to spread good practices) and its manifesto is the affirmation of a possible coexistence between fashion and sustainability: “We believe in change that leads to a life more in harmony with nature. We are convinced that together we can go far. The same act repeated can bring unexpected results. Everything begins with a choice “. And in fact the hashtag associated with the brand is #choosethechange.
The Womsh sneakers are made up of five lines but we are interested in talking above all about the vegan line, the most innovative and sustainable one, made with Appleskin, a bio-polymer produced by the Italian company Frumat Leather with South Tyrolean apple waste (peels and cores) mixed for 50% with polyurethane and coupled with fabrics. Frumat Leather won the Technology and Innovation award at the Green Carpet Fashion Award of 2018, because the material is not only biodegradable but fully interprets the philosophy linked to the circular economy by recovering cellulose otherwise destined to thermo-valorization.
Even the sneaker liners follow the principle of sustainability with the use of recycled cotton, while with regard to rubber the company admits and simultaneously ensures that it is an aspect on which it is already working for the 2020 collection.
The sneakers, not only the vegan ones, then follow a (re) continuous cycle, since the old pairs can be returned to the company to be transformed into anti-shock flooring for children’s playgrounds.
Even the packaging is made with recycled cardboard.
Womsh participates, in collaboration with Lifegate, in the ‘Impatto Zero’ project, which aims to offset the CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere and in ‘Foreste in piedi’, for the protection of 560 hectares of Amazon rainforest that Brazil has given in concession of use to 27 families of the community of San Pedro, with the aim of preventing and combating deforestation, arson, illegal hunting and other environmental crimes.
While buying a pair of Womsh sneakers of the vegan line, the consumer makes a small gesture of sustainability allowing to plant a cocoa tree in Cameroon with the collaboration of local farmers.
Any numbers? In five years, Womsh has created and preserved 12,000 square meters of equatorial forest, recycled 1500 pairs of sneakers in 2018, and since 2014 has offset 74 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, while 90% of the energy used in the company comes from from renewable sources.
#choosethechange and spread the word! (or ‘word of mouth’😉)