August is for many a synonym of vacation, rest, travel and of course... synonym of beach.

Without a doubt, the beach is a very popular place during the summer, an excellent place to relax, socialize or simply go for a walk. Because it is such a popular place, there are negative consequences to these places and one of these consequences is precisely the garbage left on the beach, especially plastic.

The issue here is that most of this plastic ends up in the sea, further compromising the life of marine species. To give you an idea, according to data from the European Parliament, every year about 4.8 and 12 million tons of garbage end up in the sea. Also, only in the EU 80% of this garbage is single-use plastic, mostly derived from beaches. 

Obviously, these numbers are quite worrying, and it is this concern that has moved brands to act.

How can a sustainable clothing and shoes brand help?

As you might imagine, brands can't do miracles, however they can mitigate the problem by reusing that plastic.

Having plastic on the road, in the countryside or on the beaches is a big problem, but the problem becomes even bigger when this plastic reaches the sea. We have seen, for example, cases of animals turning up dead on beaches because they ingested plastic that was in the ocean. This is something that should not happen and so we as human beings have to act to avoid these and other situations.

It is in this sense that many sustainable brands, which are sensitized to this issue, have started to act, and change the perception we have of fashion.

As is well known, sustainable clothing and shoes brands use alternative and sustainable materials in their collections. Why not use recycled plastic as well?

This is exactly what sustainable brands have done and have done successfully!

Today, many sustainable clothing and footwear brands use recycled plastic, derived from different locations, but mainly from beaches or oceans, to create clothing items such as bikinis or even sustainable shoes.

How is recycled plastic collected?

The plastic that is collected can be collected in different ways. There are brands that join forces and clean up the beaches by collecting and separating plastic that can be used in their collections; or, on the other hand, there are brands that take advantage of the plastic that is collected at sea.

How is recycled plastic used in sustainable clothing and shoes?

As you can imagine, brands are not going to simply take a piece of plastic and stick it to a sweater or sneaker, right?

In order for recycled plastic to be used in collections, it must go through a treatment process, according to each brand's wishes.

For example, recycled plastic can be used in the form of yarn to create clothing, or it can be used as soles for shoes, depending on its intended use the treatment that the plastic will get will obviously vary.

Does Verney use recycled plastic?

We are a sustainable footwear brand, so any sustainable alternative that comes up we are willing to explore and insert into our footwear if it makes sense for us and for the best well-being of our customers.

In this sense, Verney uses recycled plastic in some of the models, mainly in sneakers. In the case of our brand, we reuse plastic from recycled plastic bottles collected in the Mediterranean Sea. This recycled plastic is made into yarn and then into fabric, to be used on the outside of the shoe.

At this moment we have available on our website a sneaker model made through recycled plastic, the Vella model.

As you can see, it is a perfectly 'normal' model that if no one tells you, you have no idea it is made from recycled plastic, right?

Fortunately, sustainable clothing and footwear brands like Verney have been emerging more and more and making a difference, as the use of recycled plastic in collections has allowed the numbers of plastic in the sea to be reduced. No doubt there is still a lot to be done, however, thanks to the power of creativity, transformation, and technology, everything is reused, and nothing is thrown away!

This year we encourage you to be a responsible citizen at the beach and outside, and to put your plastic items in the recycling bin, so that they can be recycled in the best way possible!