How are we doing this season?
Icebug always strive to minimize the use of petroleum, energy, chemicals and water in material choices and processes, while still maintaining performance and durability. This is how far we have gotten at this point.
LEATHER: 100% Ecco DriTan and LWG Gold rated leather
100% of the leathers used for SS20 are both gold-rated according to Leather Working Group standards (+42% from FW19) and tanned with DriTan technology (+100 % from FW19).
TEXTILE: 96 % Eco friendly textiles
96% of all textiles have one or several of the following sustainability features: recycled polyester, bluesign® certified and/or low-impact dying. 85% of the textiles used are made of recycled polyester (+11% from FW19), 90% of the textiles are also dyed with low-impact methods (+19% from FW19) and 96% are bluesign® certified (+7% from FW19).
In the production for fall 2018, our goal has been to change all textile materials we can to recycled polyester and use a dying technique to add the pigment on fiber level, instead of weaving or stitching a white fabric, and then coloring it in a big color bath. We call the technology ”solution dye”, it's also called ”spin dye” and ”top dye”. The name is less important, more importantly, when materials are colored in this way, water use is reduced by almost 50%, chemical use by more than 90% and CO2 emissions by more than 60%.
MIDSOLE: 10% BLOOM™ algae
All together the midsoles of the SS20 Collection consist of 10% algae (20% BLOOM™ master batch of which half is algae), meaning fewer fossil resources are used.
OUTSOLE: 13% Recycled rubber
For the vast majority of the SS20 collection we are using 15% recycled production waste in the outsole compound, while still keeping durability and performance.
CHALLENGES TO TACKLE:
* Rubber soles and studs
* PU/TPU reinforcements
* Backing materials
* Adhesives
* Carbon impact of the overall shoe
* Continue to secure PFC free shoes
What's been done for the Summer ‘20 Collection?
In the summer production for 2020, we introduce leather with Ecco DriTan tanning method which uses far less chemicals and water than traditional tanning. We also demanded the highest standard LWG certificate for all the leather we bought. The result is that 100% of the leathers we use are both gold-rated according to Leather Working Group standards and tanned with DriTan technology.
The collection has raised the share of bluesign® certified textiles in both upper and lining, as well as the share of products with low impact coloring methods.
The SS20 collection, as all our collections, is screened for potentially harmful chemicals in cooperation with RISE chemicals group, and tested by the test institution SGS before shipping. All test results were negative which means the products passed the tests.
What’s in the pipeline for future Collections?
For the Fall/Winter 2020 Collection, we introduce a new reinforcement material Milspeed for all Hiking and walking styles. The Milspeed materials contains overall 60% recycled material, to replace the standard virgin plastic heal and toe counter reinforcements. 11-12% of the material is made up from recycled nylon from used fishing nets and 45-48% is recycled thermoplastics from the industry.
In the Spring/Summer 2021 Collection we will use Milspeed reinforcements in all shoes. We also introduce the bio-based hemp as an upper material, which reduces the need for nonrenewable recourses and provides excellent properties.
The next components that we will be digging deeper into to find better alternatives for are the midsole foams, glues and rubber with studs. And, of course, we always search for energy efficient materials to lower the overall carbon footprint of our shoes.
