I've been a shoe designer/developer for 12 years now and saw how big of an issue plastic in footwear is. We produce 300 million + tons for plastic waste every year, and a substantial part of that is in footwear. I was looking at the market and no company was making strides fast enough to fix the problem.
I spent 3 years researching and designing a shoe that's fully biodegradable and capable of housing an apple seed. I'm looking to make the idea of biodegradability appealing by encouraging people to plant their shoes in the ground when they're done with them. Thus, Johnny: The Shoe That Grows Into a Tree was born.
I'm currently fundraising and we've gotten a lot of interest - 85% backed with one week to go! Also been covered by multiple national news outlets in Canada and the USA. I'm in talks with a few major retailers to carry the shoes in FW 2022 and Spring 2023. I'm so proud of what I've accomplished so far and looking forward to the funding a seed round shortly. It's a very new stage for me, but I'd love any tips for how to navigate the seed round stage for when I get there in the next couple months.
Can someone recommend shoe trees for Thursday boots and Allen Edmonds shoes? Some people have mentioned ones from Ikea and the plastic ones from Amazon. How are these? Thanks.
I bought some new Chelsea’s and I want to make sure they last. What’s a good shoe tree? Or does it matter?
Not tryna get any musty moldy shit going on in there.
EDIT: To be clear, I try to avoid putting them in too early to make sure I'm not trapping any extra moisture in there.
SUPER SECRET EDIT: To be cleeeeeaaar... I'm going to keep doing what I do, but I was just wondering what y'all do for like curiosity purposes.
I've been working in shoe design/development for 12 years and saw a problem: Shoe soles are made of plastic. Plastic takes up to 1,000 years to biodegrade and at the rate we're churning them out, oceans and landfills will be flooded with microplastics in no time.
I spent 3 years researching and designing a biodegradable shoe that decomposes in 3 years when planted underground - then it hit me: If you're going to plant it underground, why not put a tree seed in there to offset your carbon footprint too?
I launched on Kickstarter 20 days ago and am so ecstatic that people are excited about the idea. BlogTO, Global News, CTV and CBC (Canadian News outlets) have all helped me spread the message which has been so humbling. I'm looking forward to the next 25 days to close the gap to our funding goal and start the B2B side of the business as well!
If you want to check out my project it's Johnny: The Shoe That Grows Into a Tree on Kickstarter. I tried to make the price as accessible as possible with free shipping in North America.
Hey guys! Love this sub and the innovations that are brought forward. I've been designing/developing and marketing shoes for 12 years now and roughly 3 years ago i spotted an area where I could contribute in a positive way. Every year, we throw away 300 million tons of plastic waste, and some of that is hidden in an area we don't even think about: The sole of your shoes. We call them fancy names like TPR, EVA or TPU - but at the end of the day they're plastic compounds.
I worked on this idea for 3 years and developed Johnny: The Shoe That Grows Into an Apple Tree. It took a long time to work out the specific compound for rapid biodegradation that would only activate once the shoe is planted underground and not on your feet. I added in a bunch of features that you can check out through the link such as water resistance, slip-on functionality, etc.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the project and always open to suggestions for improvement!
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