In 2021, Hamburg-based media startup Flip made headlines with its sneaker hunt. At the time, it tracked the discarded shoes of celebrities and discovered that there was a huge lack of environmentally friendly waste disposal and recycling. Now, with its own sneaker, Flip wants to show how it can do better. A crowdfunding campaign has just been launched with great success.
Journalistic work with practical consequences
During the sneaker hunt, Flip had fitted the shoes of eleven well-known personalities such as Jan Delay, Carolin Kebekus and Linda Zervakis with GPS transmitters. In the process, they discovered that some items were shipped to Africa and ended up in landfills or in the environment. Not isolated cases, but still a widespread practice in the disposal of old clothes and shoes. But Flip didn't just want to put this problem on the agenda, it also wanted to find a solution. The idea: a new sneaker made at least in part from recycled old sneakers.
A project with long-term goals
For the project, the startup looked for suitable partners. Monaco Ducks is a label that emphasizes sustainability in its shoes. The Faculty of Textiles & Design at Reutlingen University contributes scientific expertise. And the Kenyan startup Africa Collect Textiles (ACT) takes care of the organization of waste collection on site. Together, the project partners have succeeded in shredding no longer usable sneakers from Kenya into a granulate and processing it into new soles. For the rest of the sole, an environmentally friendly material mix was developed, consisting of around 90 percent renewable raw materials (60 percent natural rubber, 30 percent rice husk ash). The upper shoe consists of only 15 components, 13 of which are made from recycled materials.
In addition, a deposit is intended to ensure that the sneakers are returned after their use and recycled as completely as possible. The shoes are currently still produced in Portugal. In the long term, however, the aim is to shift as much of the creation of value as possible to Africa. "We are not the world's garbage dump," says Alex Musembi, co-founder of ACT. "A recycled sneaker that helps fight the problem locally is overdue and can become part of the solution."
The sneaker's name is MARABU, named after a stork-like bird often found in landfills in Africa. For the project, Flip and Monaco Ducks created a new company, GRND, and launched a crowdfunding campaign on October 4. The first funding goal of 10,000 euros was reached after less than an hour. In the meantime, the 50,000 euro mark has been clearly exceeded. Thus, the campaign is already a commercial success, although for Flip the educational work on topics such as greenwashing and sustainable consumption remains a major concern.
