Innocent and Vlace launch apple leather sneakers

You have to celebrate leftovers as they fall - and in the production of Innocent smoothies and juices, whose only ingredients are fruits and vegetables, a few leftovers naturally occur. Pressing apples, for example, produces apple pomace. In collaboration with the sneaker startup Vlace, innocent is now using this for a stylish, sustainable sneaker.

The apple pomace is processed into apple leather in collaboration with a company specializing in vegan leather in northern Italy. This not only eliminates waste, but also reduces the carbon footprint by 8 times compared to a sneaker made of animal leather. In addition to the ecological benefits, the apple pomace material also has other advantages over traditional leather or polyurethane (PU): it is lighter than real leather and more breathable than PU. Moreover, it is easy to clean and does not lose its shape or color over time.

The rest of the shoe is also sustainable

Innocent and Vlace also rely on recycled materials for the rest of the shoe: the padding inside is made from recycled PET bottles and the soles are largely recycled from old soles. Each individual shoe is then handmade in 50 steps by a small, family-run shoe manufactory in Portugal.

Simona Schmid, Brand Manager of Innocent in Switzerland: "We are proud to work with Vlace to create this innovative sneaker made from apple pomace and recycled materials. We are committed to keeping the environmental footprint of our products as small as possible, but we are not at the end of the road yet. With this project, we want to show that the impact of corporate action can extend far beyond the boundaries of our own production. We hope to inspire other companies to take the path to more recycling and upcycling and to leave the world a little better than we found it."