This Eco-Friendly Footwear Brand Is Not Celebrating Earth Day
Rather than celebrate Earth Day for just one day, minimalist footwear brand Vivobarefoot said has a week of sustainability-focused programming planned aimed to challenge itself and its community to take action and help Mother Nature.
Starting today and ending April 29, the England-based company will use its social media and podcast platforms to encourage a new and improved bond between people and nature.
For podcast listeners, Vivobarefoot will release its “Planetary Health” series of recordings, which are 15 to 20 minutes long, via Soundcloud and Spotify. They will be hosted by Emma Hamilton-Foster, the brand’s head of sustainability, and will include guests such as Vivobarefoot founder Galahad Clark, professional surfer Laura Crane, TED speaker and regenerative design expert Michael Pawlyn and others.
Via Instagram, the brand will offer its “Human Health” broadcast that will focus on both tips and guidance for physical and mental regeneration.
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The company also revealed that from today until April 29 it will donate 5% of all sales to power regeneration projects through its forthcoming Livebarefoot Foundation. The foundation, according to the company, will fund social enterprise projects focused on regeneration, forging strong connections with people humans and nature and the preservation of indigenous cultures.
“For too long we have allowed companies to re-brand ‘sustainability’ to suit their needs. We have fallen victim to green-washing, health-washing and crisis-washing on a grand scale and it has led us into the current mess,” Hamilton-Foster said in a statement. “Regeneration isn’t a fancy new term for sustainability. It’s a direction of travel. It’s about being net positive, not just doing a little less harm. It’s about rejecting smoke and mirrors and embracing radical transparency. It’s about creating a tipping point of courage around embracing serious system change and culture change, to prevent any more climate change. It’s about putting nature and health at the heart of our future. Choosing to thrive, not just survive.”
Vivobarefoot is one of the many eco-friendly footwear brands to deliver Earth Day messaging and goals seeking better treatment of the planet. Timberland, for instance, revealed its “Caring Is No Longer Enough” video today that promises mankind will “treat you [nature] better than we ever did before” when we’re allowed to return. And Rupert Sanderson said it is partnering with WeForest, an organization which promotes reforestation to combat global warming, to regenerate forests in Brazil by funding the growth of one tree with every pair of shoes sold online or at the brand’s Mayfair boutique when it reopens.
