If you look at the leather footwear industry, you might get the impression that sustainable shoes are in short supply. But there are certainly pioneers who have done important preliminary work over the past few decades. To think! from Austria is one of them.
The footwear industry must also become more sustainable. This is particularly true for the classic leather footwear sector, in which products converge a large number of different types of material from a widely branched supply chain. But compared to the textile clothing industry, a much less sustainable commitment is felt from there. This is not necessarily due to the fact that less happens there. The Austrian shoe label Think! was founded in 1991 as a sustainable footwear brand and since 2000 is part of the Legero United Group, which also includes the Legero and Superfit footwear brands. To think! is one of the pioneers of sustainable footwear and one of the very few brands in the clothing sector whose products are certified with the Blue Angel.
We spoke to Product Manager Christoph Mayer about why the brand works with the Blue Angel, what makes sustainable manufacturing more difficult, and how sustainability is currently giving the brand a boost.
How did you think! wanted to produce shoes in a sustainable way?
We are truly pioneers when it comes to sustainable shoe manufacturing. When our founder Martin Koller took over his parents’ shoe factory, which had been producing men’s shoes for a long time, 31 years ago, he had the idea of revolutionizing the footwear market with sustainable, comfortable but beautiful shoes. But you must know that being a pioneer was difficult then. The materials did not yet exist. He wanted chrome-free vegetable tanned leather and the supply was minimal. Since then, sustainability has been at the heart of our brand.
What about vegetable tanned leather? What other tanning methods are there and why do you refuse some of them?
There are three main types of tanning: first, tanning with chromium salts. Secondly, the white tan, which is the chromium-free chemical tan. And thirdly, there is vegetable tanning, which works with vegetable tanning agents. In the collection we use 85% chrome-free tanned leather and the rest is chrome-tanned leather for technical reasons. Anything that can come into direct contact with the skin is always tanned without the use of chromium, so we are 100 percent uncompromising, even with lambskin.
Why don’t more companies work with vegetable tanned leather? What are the drawbacks?
This is due to the greater challenge in production, the leather has more character. You don’t have that eternally smooth, flawless, buttery soft skin. The dyeing is also more complex, there are higher color tolerances and our cows and calves may obviously have moved, so there are scars and bumps as well. It also takes longer to tan, which means it’s more expensive and ultimately requires more craftsmanship. Chrome tanning is faster and leather is often easier to work with, which is of particular interest to trendy brands.
And the colors? Are there any differences with chrome tanning?
The leather is now available in all colors, even without chrome. In any case, the trend played into our hands. For example, vegetable leather was less resistant to light. If a shoe had been on display for a longer period of time, it was faded, which was obviously a problem for retailers. Therefore, some had reservations about this skin. In the meantime, however, a lot has changed and more and more retailers are looking for sustainable collections.
What do you think if more and more brands follow their lead now? For example, do you feel a lack of sustainable skin?
No, we feel no shortage of sustainable leathers. Of course, we are honored that many are starting to do this – almost everyone now has a sustainable model as a highlight in their program. This creates new competition, but ultimately also increases awareness of the topic. Meanwhile, some large retailers have already set their own standards for their ranges in order to increase the sustainable share, which obviously helps us too.
In essence, it can be said with certainty that the focus on sustainability has stabilized our sales beyond normal in recent years. If we didn’t have the topic, it would certainly be different.
To think! was the first ever footwear brand – and is still one of the very few – whose products are certified with the Blue Angel. Why the Blue Angel?
To think! was the first shoe manufacturer in 2015 to receive the Austrian eco-label, which is even stricter than the Blue Angel. But the eco-label is not known beyond the borders, the Blue Angel, on the other hand, is very well known. Also: unlike textiles, there are so far no specific certificates for shoes. Shoes have between 20 and 40 different components. So far, nothing has been done on this scale. Of course, all of our suppliers are LWG [Leather Working Group; Anmerkung der Redaktion] certified, but leather is only one of the components.
What does Blue Angel certify and what do you think! as well as in terms of sustainability?
The entire production process is controlled, from the purification plant of the tannery to the delivery of the footwear. All manufacturing facilities are audited, we use recycled sewing thread, we reduce plastic where possible, we use FSC certified recycled cardboard and even sustainable adhesive tape. All of this goes into the certificate.
Are there efforts in the footwear industry to have their own seal?
I haven’t heard of it yet, but we have set ourselves the highest standards in Leger United brand association as part of Leger United’s sustainability agenda.
What percentage of the overall collection do Blue Angel certified shoes have?
Think! So far 40 models have been certified. And every season, four to six new variations are added with the Blue Angel. However, other models would also meet the criteria, but we haven’t certified every single color variation because it would be too time-consuming for us. Certification takes so long because the shoes contain an incredible number of different materials.
Why are sustainable shoes so little known? The textile industry is much more communicative …
We have always worked with sustainability, but unfortunately we don’t have the same marketing budgets as fashion and textile brands. This has always been a fundamental difference between the footwear sector and the fashion one! This may give the impression that less is happening in the footwear industry, which is not true.
How can you improve further, what goals do you have to become even more sustainable?
The main problem is the prices. Sustainability doesn’t exactly make a product cheaper. Regionality is also a challenge because it is not at all easy to find the materials here. We are part of the Legero United Group and we pursue the goal of achieving CO2 neutrality down to the product level by 2030. Leather is obviously the main cause of CO2 here.
What do you think of vegan leather or recycled leather?
First of all: the good thing about skin is that animals are not bred to make skin as long as the meat is eaten. Leather is a by-product of the meat industry. Especially from a circular economy perspective, nothing would be worse than throwing away animal skins instead of processing them.
What do you think of recycled leather?
What I am currently still failing at is a tan. These leathers are not chromium-free because everything is put together here. I also won’t import cactus leather from South America, which I don’t think is a better alternative to real leather from Europe. In my opinion, vegan leather shoes, that is plastic, still don’t make sense from the point of view of breathability, flexibility, longevity and therefore also sustainability and health.
Where do you get your skin from?
Our leather comes mainly from Italy and also from Germany. The soles come mainly from Italy and Spain. We work with manufacturing partners who work almost exclusively for Think! to produce. These are found in Italy, Bosnia, Romania and Hungary. At the Heading site, we still manufacture our prototypes and also offer a repair service. Repairability is already considered in the design, which is part of the sustainable philosophy, and is also in high demand. We repair about 1,000 pairs of shoes a year.
How do you deal with the question of what happens to shoes at the end of their life cycle? Can you recycle your shoes?
This is an incredibly complex subject. The fact is that so far there is no solution for shoe recycling. Recycling works best with single-origin products and this doesn’t work with leather shoes. As far as we know, there is currently no solution. But what can we influence: According to the Waste Ordinance, broken shoes should be disposed of with household waste, which means that around 80-90 percent of shoes end up in incineration. If so, at least no pollutants should be produced when it is burned. And we always keep this in mind, starting with the design and the choice of materials.
To think! it is mainly sold in the DACH region, but also in the Benelux countries, Scandinavia and other EU countries, as well as in Japan, the USA, Canada and South Africa. To think! it does not operate its own stationeries, but there are 16 partner stores in Germany and two in Austria.
