Why don't we do it differently?

86% of the sneakers are produced in Asia, while 70% of the sneakers are worn (far) outside these countries. “Sustainable” sneakers that are flown or sailed from far away are never sustainable in our opinion.

Zoolmates believes that this should and can be done differently. That is why we choose to bring the production of sneakers back to the Netherlands, close to the people who actually wear the sneakers. Together with social partners, we are even more committed to positive social impact.

Our mission:

✈️ - Zoolmates sneakers do not take a polluting journey by reducing unnecessary travel movements. That saves CO2 emissions.

👟 - We use sustainable materials and a sustainable method of production.

🎨 - We are committed to maintaining craftsmanship, and we invest in young talent and people with special talents who can contribute to the labor market.

A few examples of how we do this:

• We use chrome-free produced leather from a tanner recognized by the Leather Working Group

• We use recycled, unprocessed cardboard for shipping. Also, our shoe box is the shipping box. That saves waste.

• We work together with social partners such as Pluryn, Cycloon, and SintLucas

• We very consciously do not participate in the fast-fashion rat race. We use a fixed collection that does not depend on the season. This prevents waste and waste.

We are working on these challenges step by step. We show what we are already doing and what our next step is to achieve new goals again and again.