Who We Are

With all the over-built, over-hyped products out there, it's pretty hard to find sustainable shoes that you can live with. So we started Simple, your stereotypical, anti-stereotype brand offering good shoes and a big dose of reality.

About a gazillion pairs later... give or take a few... we've managed to learn a few things. Well, actually a lot of things. And none more important than this: HOW we make our shoes is just as important as WHY we make them. That means finding more sustainable ways of doing business so we can make a gazillion more.

Which pretty much is where we are today... at the crossroads of here and now, aware of our responsibility to the planet while trying to pay the bills. The nice little shoe company getting in touch with its inner hippie.

1Car Tires

Car tires are used in the making of our shoes, so that they do not end up in the landfi lls.

The tires are cut up into smaller pieces.

The pieces are then die cut into the shape of a shoe and used as outsoles.

2Crepe

Crepe is a natural rubber that comes from the hevea tree. It is 100% biodegradable.

The cured crepe is molded to make our outsoles because it is sticky, has a great traction, and also lots of squish.

3Hemp

Hemp is a great resource because it grows like a weed and its long fi bers make strong abrasive-resistant material.

After the hemp is cut, it goes through a process called “retting” – the stalks are soaked in water so the fi bers separate easily from the bark. The long fi bers are collected and then are twisted into yarn. The yarn is twisted into rope or woven into textiles.

4Cork

Cork is a natural material that comes from the cork tree. It is renewable and also antimicrobial!

The bark is pulled away from the tree to expose the layer between the bark and the wood. This layer is called the suberin layer and is like fatty tissue. This layer is striped away.

The striped layer is dried and then ground into small pieces. The small pieces are mixed with latex (a natural rubber) and then formed into our pedbeds.

5Organic Cotton

The cotton is cleaned. It goes through a cotton gin and other processes that separate the cotton fi ber from the waste.

It is then twisted into yarn and woven into fabric for the upper material.