^{Photo credit : ©Zèta Shoes (Instagram)}

A young entrepreneur, graduate of a Master 2 Business Development at the IAE Bordeaux (France), has launched her own brand of shoes. Called Zèta, she has the particularity to offer 100% recycled, recyclable and vegan sneakers.

The sneakers are largely made from grape pomace from the harvest. The waste from wine production is recovered, crushed and transformed into vegetable leather by an Italian company that has patented the technology. The shoes are then made in Portugal and distributed in France.

Questioning the system

As a fan of sneakers, Laure, the young entrepreneur, was determined to find an alternative to the shoes offered in fast fashion stores. Her goal: "Use what you already own. 100% recycled materials from waste."

Circular economy

For the raw material, the young woman turned to a fruit: grapes. "We recover the seeds, the residues and the skin of the grapes of the harvest that we crush, that we reintegrate into recycled materials to make a paste that will become leather." The workshops for making sneakers are located in Portugal. The country has specialized in grape leather in recent years.

"By creating Zèta, I wanted to prove that today, using natural or organic materials is no longer enough. Reusing materials at the end of their life without having to generate new waste: that's what the circular economy is all about," explains Laure. And we can only validate the initiative.

Sources : 

• Des chaussures fabriquées en France avec du marc de raisin, IAR Tremplin, 26/10/2020
• Ces baskets en cuir ont été conçues à partir de résidus de raisin, 7sur7, 02/10/2020
• Photo : Shoes made from grape pomace ©Zèta Shoes (Instagram)