![]() ![]() Erem’s Italian tannery uses plant-based tanning, rather than chrome tanning, which is more widely used but more chemical-intensive.Įrem invites customers to send boots in for repair and, ultimately, to request a free return label to send in their old boots rather than throwing them away. For R&D, Erem worked with a solar-powered Portuguese factory that also happens to be geographically close to the outsole, insole, and packaging suppliers, reducing the carbon footprint from shipping. With this first collection, Erem partnered with European manufacturers that are audited to ensure their factories are as eco-friendly as possible. But it was important to us that we use linen.” “The thread is only 0.03% of our boot, by volume. “The tension settings in the factory machines are set to polyester,” he says. However, Noah says, it took a long time for the sewing factory to learn how to use the linen. While most footwear is made by laminating layers together with hot plastic adhesives, Erem’s boots are largely constructed by stitching layers together using linen thread, rather than polyester thread, an approach that makes it easier to take the boot apart for repairs and recycling. ![]() “These suppliers are focused on whether there is a demand for this material. “If you want to find threads or rubber that are, you can’t find it on a drop-down menu with one of these suppliers,” Jeff says. They worked with a manufacturer to create a rubber outsole embedded with a biodegradability enhancer that will allow it to decompose in 7 to 14 years, depending on environmental conditions, rather than the 400 years typical for traditional rubber outsoles. Erem had to build its supply chain from scratch rather than sourcing from mainstream suppliers that service footwear brands. Our belief was that our responsibility should extend beyond the point of sale to what happens at the end of its life.”īut making a performance boot out of biodegradable materials is a complex proposition. “But because most consumers do not recycle, this plastic will end up in a landfill. “All things being equal, recycled polyester is better than virgin polyester,” Noah says. While recycled plastic is very popular in the fashion industry, Erem’s team decided against it. The goal was to use the most sustainable technology on the market, creating shoes made from eco-friendly materials that are also biodegradable. “Any similarity to a Timberland silhouette is coincidental and driven by their influence from elements of the military and work boot heritage,” he says. It resembles the Timberland boot, with its rugged sole and light-brown suede exterior-but Jeff downplays the resemblance. Together, Jeff and Noah decided to build a boot designed for desert hiking. That’s when he quit his MBA program to launch Erem. While he was there, it became clear to him that he wanted to return to his roots as a boot-maker, but this time with an eco-friendly focus. He attended Harvard Business School and began to plot out his next move. He had a picture in his head of taking over the business, but when I sold the company, that picture disappeared.”Īfter college, Noah worked for several brands focused on sustainability, such as Beyond Meat, Modern Meadow, and Superpedestrian. “Generational family businesses are strange, rare creatures, and Noah was mad at me in a deep way. “Noah was a fourth generation lurking in the wings,” Jeff says. But his father sold the family business while Noah was attending Columbia University, which left him wondering what he wanted to do with his career. Like his father and grandfather, Noah had spent his childhood immersed in the shoe business, visiting factories and having dinner-table conversations with his family about nuances in boot design. It was 28-year-old Noah who first came up with the idea for Erem. While many established footwear companies, from Nike and Timberland to Jimmy Choo, are trying to redesign their shoes and manufacturing systems to be more sustainable, Erem is an interesting experiment in building an eco-friendly shoe from the ground up. ![]()
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