I am always looking for local, unique and sustainable products and brands. I also love supporting small businesses. And I love sneakers!
So you can only imagine my excitement when I stumbled onto these awesome sneakers. Corks are made by Reefer Shoes. When Reefer Shoes began their business their dream was to create a footwear brand that was going to offer something different than a lot of the generic shoes currently on the market. They wanted to tick three boxes, namely: to be trendy, locally made and to use, where possible, better environmental components. After wearing my Corks a few times I can ensure the Reefer team that they are ticking all the boxes.
Reefer shoes have a cork and hemp range of sneakers. Cork and hemp are both natural fibers that have great sustainable aspects. Cork is actually regarded as a CO2 sink, with every ton of cork harvested, 72 tons of CO2 is sequestered. For this small business sustainability extends further than the materials they use, it is also about creating a sustainable value chain, from harvesting to the end customer.
Their cork sneakers, or Corks, come in four great colours – natural cork, navy, black and a limited edition “Sunflower” yellow. I love that Reefer donates a portions of the Sunflower edition’s sales to the Sunflower Fund to help them do their life-saving work. The hemp sneakers come in a cool steel or black colour. And if you are into high-top sneakers they’ve got a hemp sneaker for you too. They have also recently launched two new shoes – Cork Vellies and a super stylish Urban Safari Cork boot.
If you buy one pair of sneakers this winter make it a pair of Corks! They are lightweight, comfortable, stylish and good for the planet.
Shop your Reefer sneakers at https://www.reefershoes.com/
