understands the concept: He’s been selling his cult-coveted sneaker boots and high-tops for more than a decade, but a few years ago he started feeling uneasy about the frenzy. “The hype element of the sneaker market was starting to worry me a little bit,” he said on a recent call. “When something blows up like that, it acquires this tone of status and consumption, and I wanted to turn that around a little bit.” You’ve seen the kids waiting outside Kith at 6 a.m.
Owens means personal responsibility as well as environmental responsibility. Almost all sneakers are made of plastic, sometimes with as many as 20 different parts that can’t be separated, which makes them nearly impossible to recycle. “Making plastic trophies maybe isn’t the best thing to do,” he says. “So I did the research and looked around for the most responsible sneaker company I could find.
Kopp adds that it was “really a pleasure” to work with Owens. “We started working on this two years ago, which is a long journey for designers because they’re in this crazy rhythm of the fashion seasons,” he says. “People contact us all the time and want a shoe two or three months later, but with Rick, what I felt a lot from him was respect. When we said we couldn’t do things, he said, ‘Okay! No problem.’ He really wants to make changes; he sees what is possible. He’s ready for the changes.
Kopp’s team spent five years developing. Rather than put his stamp on one of Veja’s classic low-tops, Owens was excited by the new technology. “Our goal for the running shoe was to get rid of plastic entirely,” Kopp explains. “We half succeeded, because it’s 45 percent bio-based materials like banana oil, sugarcane, rice husk, and natural rubber. Which is okay—it’s not perfect.
RICKOWENSONLINE Man he needs to sustain my foot injuries every time I wear my ramones smh
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