SAYE – Not Just Vegan

Text: Sebastian Nicu

The weirdest year ever is slowly but surely coming to an end. Now we all hope it will get better soon. Luckily there are people like the team behind SAYE, who are actively working towards a better world. Next to problems like Corona, racism, police brutality and many other things that went sour in the last few months, our planet has of course also taken lots of hits. This year, our earth needs us even more than usual. There are just too many people who don’t care about the environment and just throw their masks on the street after using it. But this is just the latest form of environmental destruction that has been going on for decades.

We all want our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren – okay, you get the picture – to have some fun on this blue planet, so we really need to talk to the (wo)man in the mirror and dedicate ourselves to the topic of sustainability. Everybody who has ever been to a big city knows that sustainability can also be cool: vintage here, upcycling there. You no longer have to wear your big brother’s old baggy clothes and disgusting sneakers to do the environment a favor. No, you can also buy the products of SAYE.

Thanks to a great brand concept and a successful global crowdfunding campaign, the brand from Spain has been bringing stylish, sustainable sneakers to our streets for some time now. The use of recycled materials has an enormous positive impact on reducing the repercussions on the environment. And the choice of their partner You Shoes is another step in the right direction. The manufacturer in Portugal delights its employees with fair pay, many vacation days, a good work-life balance, and equal rights – things that unfortunately are a rarity in the industry.

SAYE has had a special place in our shop for quite some time, and now they are finishing off this year by dropping the »Not Just Vegan« collection: Sneakers made of 100% vegan AND recycled materials. The sleek sneakers are in no way inferior to their counterparts made of animal leather. After all, they’re made in Portugal from the best possible materials. The upper of the shoes of the SAYE vegan collection, for example, is made of a faux leather with the euphonious name »Recycled Vegan Napa«. It consists of a mix of fibers recycled according to the Global Recycled Standard (GRS), for example from fabrics or PET bottles, polyester and high-quality polyurethane. The other parts of the shoe are also made from sustainable, vegan fabrics such as natural and synthetic rubber, recycled PU foam and organic cotton. From the laces to the shoe box, everything you get is vegan and sustainable.

The environment is happy, your feet are happy, what more could you ask for? Still, for the team behind SAYE, making vegan shoes simply was not enough. So they went one step further by using recycled materials. Hence the name of the collection: »Not Just Vegan«. But even that’s not enough for them, so they don’t just plant one tree for every pair of shoes they sell – they plant two. In total, they have planted 119,707 new trees in Australia, Zambia, India and the Amazon since 2018. In 2021, they even want to break the 200,000 mark. Buying shoes and doing good at the same time – it’s almost too good to be true.

If you want to dive into the philosophy of SAYE, gain insights on their sustainable production as well as their view on the future of fashion, we highly recommend you swing by their Blog. Especially this article about the impacts of 2020 on the fashion industry and consumer consciousness is a great and inspiring read: Blog: How fashion is adapting to the pandemic – SAYE

Discover SAYE and the »Not Just Vegan« collection at HHV: SAYE Sneakers | HHV

Visual content: SAYE