Spanish brands Camper and Ecoalf are teaming up on a new eco-friendly line of sneakers made with recycled materials.
Camper’s “Together With Ecoalf” collaboration reimagines the brand’s signature cap-toe silhouette, called the Pelotas. The shoe’s uppers, laces and linings are made with an Ecoalf-designed material woven from yarns derived from plastic bottles, fabric scraps, and post-industrial waste, according to the brand’s website.
The unisex style comes in three colorways—black, white and navy—and retails for $160.
With each pair of shoes sold, 2 euros ($2.26) will be donated to the Ecoalf Foundation, which works with fishermen in Thailand and Spain to collect and recycle ocean plastics.
“In line with Camper’s aim to consistently find innovative new ways to minimize its impact without sacrificing its high-quality standards, Camper Together with Ecoalf is the brand’s most environmentally friendly shoe to date and represents new possibilities for sustainable footwear design,” the brand said in a statement.
Camper has been known since the ’70s for its inventive, statement-making shoe silhouettes and collaborations with unexpected partners. In March, the brand struck an alliance with Michelin, the world’s second largest tire manufacturer, and released a rubber sneaker made to feel as soft as velvet. The shoe’s nearly seamless, laceless upper was made using a technology Michelin applies to the sidewalls of its tires.
Sustainable newcomer Ecoalf has been fusing fashion with eco-friendly design since 2012, but the clothing and accessories brand is committed to developing technologies to turn post-consumer and post-industrial waste into fabrics. Raw materials, like plastic bottles, tires, fishing nets, coffee grounds and salvaged materials such as cotton and wool, are used in Ecoalf’s products.
Last summer, Ecoalf released a sock-like sneaker made from ocean plastics and an algae-derived, closed-cell foam compound to replace the midsole’s traditional EVA. The shoe was comprised of just two material compounds, reducing the supply chain steps to just one, the brand said.