The footwear industry has grown more than ever in recent times, and it is showing no signs of slowing down any time sooner. But with this increasing business trend, the sector is running down on a path that could cause serious problems if it remains unstoppable. Customization is the best way to help companies get a hold of the current situation and pave a more secure path for thriving in the footwear industry. Custom shoe designing is one such customization solution that allows brands to control and streamline their production line, thus ensuring there are no negative impacts on the environment’s manufacturing process. The custom-made tool holds expertise in providing relevant business solutions to shoemaking and retailing companies so that they could spur in the luxury market. The software provides a new perception to brands, only allowing them to stand tall with its new digital feature and take measures in the direction of sustainability.
Custom Design Shoes Enables Brands to Adress the Elephant in the Room
Footwear is the new essence of the fashion and luxury industry. The new emerging sector produces more than 23 billion pairs of sneakers every year. Surprising, isn’t it? Yet, a little is done to understand, let alone the actions, that what happens after these many are manufactured and later dumped. Its overproduction is the primary reason behind being so wasteful beyond measurement despite having great market demand. The new footwear manufactured has virgin plastic, petroleum, and rubber, which produce carbon dioxide at an alarming rate. As per the statistics of a sneaker start-up, Nothing New, approximately 300 million pairs of shoes are thrown out every year. And on average, it takes about 30-40 years for a pair to decompose in a landfill fully. Imagine how much pain we are causing to mother nature.
However, it would be unfair to the footwear sector to blame them for everything; the shoppers are equally responsible for damaging the environment. Additionally, many steps are being taken to ensure a limit on carbon emission, and minimum environment damaging products are used. And as shoppers are becoming more educated about the environmental concerns associated with producing their clothes and shoes, brands become more incentivized to offer sustainable alternatives. These days people are tapping into themes that are well aligned with the ecosystem and designs that form fusion with the latest business trends to create style echoing ‘new normal’ consumer mindsets. Best-selling styles are also reinvigorated, extending the trend lifespan and broadening their appeal via fresh and exciting updates and reinterpretations.
Many leading brands are using several innovative strategies to make sure they venture into the ethical business and take their business to the next level. In this blog, we shall learn about various tactics that help companies spur in the market and how those can be used as an inspiration and motivation to learn from and implement their success stories into your business model.
Let us look at the numerous ways brands can become sustainable:
- Incorporating Handcrafted Eco Constructions
Fashion has never been deprived of creativity and imagination. And when manufacturing products with sustainable strategies came at the forefront, the sector is overwhelmed with novel ways to manufacture. These days people demand the incorporation of the key overarching themes of the season. The footwear constructions seamlessly blend artisanal techniques with eco-conscious fabrications. Raw state natural materials and yarns are interlaced, knotted, and embroidered, showing how sustainable materials can be elevated through handcrafting. These creative ideas promote the use of recyclable and re-purposeful items so that the environment is never at stake. For example, VF Corp-owned Timberland has launched footwear made exclusively with renewable and recycled materials. The upper of the ‘Truecloud,’ which comes in a boot version and a Chukka version, comprises 50 percent responsibly sourced wool and 50 percent nylon blend.
The linings are made of 70 percent eucalyptus tree fibers. This renewable raw material comes from sustainably managed forests and a 30 percent recycled cotton blend, which uses excess cotton from manufacturing that would otherwise have gone to waste. According to the brand, recycled cotton requires 95 percent less water to make than traditional cotton fabric.
- Implementing Partnerships with Strong Players
It is always wise to form a partnership whenever you are stepping into a new business domain. And at present, the footwear industry seems to be offering lucrative opportunities for brands to dominate the market and thereby transforming the business model. Take the example of Adidas has launched its first collaboration with Wales Bonner. The Fall/Winter 2020 collection first debuted on the runway during London Fashion Week earlier this year and is now available for retail. The collection is inspired by Bonner’s Jamaican heritage, bringing together literary and musical references that explore 1970s subcultures from the perspective of Caribbean youth in London.
The design your own sneakers online works on a slightly different concept as it allows your buyers to make footwear as they please and view it using its 360-degree preview digital feature. The tool complies with all the rules that speak up for sustainable fashion. Since people will be designing their footwear, there are fewer chances of throwing away personalized products for numerous reasons. First of all, it helps brands develop a personal, trusting bond with customers, and customers are emotionally invested in creating their fashion statement. Second of all, as people are the designers, they must have created the product keeping all their requirements, including style, pattern, size, print, quality, and many other aspects of designing. Hence they won’t dump it. After understanding the several advantages of customization, it would be wise to implement it on your website and scale up your business. Together your brand and our tool can dominate the entire footwear market.
- Shifting Trends Towards Online Shopping
As the pandemic outbroke, the fashion and luxury industry saw an exponential rise in online shopping. Though many experts suggest that increase in ecommerce was going to happen sooner or later, but COVID-19 provided a necessary push to the online economy. Online retailer Asos has released its annual trends report, which reveals that the pandemic has shifted 20-somethings’ shopping habits, with activewear and loungewear soaring as shoppers looked for comfort. Asos saw a corresponding uptick in customer demand for activewear during the lockdown, with 188,000 pairs of its Asos 4505 Icon leggings sold during the initial lockdown. As summer arrived and more people started exercising outdoors, it saw demand for shorts increasing, with sales up 200 percent year-on-year.
From the success story of Asos, it is evident that though lockdowns have been lifted from various countries, people are still anticipated to shop online because, a, we don’t have a vaccine yet, and b, shopping from the comfort of the home offers unparallel customer experience. Many brands hope that inclination for buying leisure, activewear, footwear, and the mask will continue to be strong into 2021. Their data-led approach meaning the business is in a good position to build on its agility in the year ahead.
- Increasing Use of Recycled Fabrics
Last but not least, no brand can achieve its tag for sustainability unless it makes sure that all of the products it is manufacturing are recycled ones. The growing awareness among individuals is also the cause for the same. Therefore, several brands are complying with this changed their norms, and doing their bit to help restore our nature. Let us look at the success story of Air and Grace; the British footwear brand is launching a special edition ‘Repurpose’ capsule collection made from surplus materials in a bid to minimize waste and champion responsible shopping.
Launching on November 27, the new Air and Grace collection is part of the brand’s “sustainable by design” commitment to minimizing waste. It has been specially designed, using leftover sample material from sample production that is often a wasted by-product of shoe manufacture.
Make an Informed Decision-
From the facts and figure, it is evident that the eco-friendly measures are the need of the hour, and brands that don’t follow them shall disappear from customers’ memory. If you don’t want to fall into this category, install the customize shoes by iDesigniBuy. It is a customization solution that enables brands to adhere to the latest sustainable trends and help their buyer’s purchase products they really like and won’t dump in the landfill.
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