MATERIALS
One of the most important aspects of Vesica Piscis Footwear's production process is to conscientiously choose the raw materials used in manufacturing our products, these being 100% vegan, and mostly organic and recycled.
The repercussions that the consumption of raw materials has on sustainability, both on the social and cultural sphere, as well as on our ecosystem, lead us to think long and hard when selecting the different materials that we use to make our range.
For this reason, before any raw materials come to form a part of our products, there must be a history of respect for the planet and the beings that inhabit it, a sine qua non condition meaning that we can become a part of their history.
We must remember that we have the power to choose what world we want to live in every time we acquire something new, be it a component or a finished product, we are taking care of what came before and what is to come after us.
RECYCLED COTTON
The most sustainable fabric
The favorite matter for Vesica Piscis
Recycled cotton mainly derives from leftovers in the clothes manufacturing process, which are reused to make thread, thus avoiding that they become a part of the rubbish dump and lose their great value.
These snippets, once mashed together and shredded, are mixed with other types of fibres, giving them the resistance needed to make the thread, using the colours of the recycled fibre itself to make textiles with similar characteristics to those of conventional cotton.
The cotton recycling process
Recycling cotton has many advantages for the environment, starting with the fact mentioned above - that it doesn't end up in the rubbish dump - and among others:
- The land used to grow cotton can be used for other purposes.
- The large volume of water used for growing cotton is saved.
The use of chemical products normally applied at plantations is avoided.
- No dyes, which are usually highly polluting, are used.
- Great energy savings, meaning that the carbon footprint in textile production is minimised and the water footprint is erased from its background.
Comparative table of consumption in the production of a tonne of coloured cotton thread.
ORGANIC COTTON
The naturalness of organic cotton
At Vesica Piscis Footwear we also use, although to a lesser extent, certified organic cotton (GOTS), which guarantees awareness in crop growing and a respected workforce.
There are many qualities that can be attributed to the most highly used soft fibre in the world, as long as it has been grown organically.
To be able to be labelled as organic, cotton has to fulfil a series of requirements, all to the benefit of the environment, the workers and the end user.
Starting with the fact that the land where it is grown must be free of all toxic substances and undergo the corresponding rotations so that it is kept in healthy conditions.
The seeds used must not be genetically modified. And throughout the process from planting to harvesting, it must be free of any chemical substances, such as herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers.
These are the minimum requirements that must be met to be able to label cotton as organic, and with these measures avoid damaging the ecosystem and the health of the workers, as well as any allergies that the end user may suffer, obtaining a softer, breathable fibre.
However, contrary to organic cotton, the so-called and widely used conventional cotton, gives rise to many environmental problems, poor health in workers and allergies in the end user.
Conventional cotton, despite making up just 3% of the total grown worldwide, uses around 25% of the agrochemicals produced all over the world, ruining the biodiversity of the cultivated area, damaging the earth, water sources and wildlife in the surrounding area.
The workers growing it also suffer due to the high level of toxicity of the chemical products used.
In short... which of these stories are you willing to encourage? ......
RECYCLED POLYESTER
Recycled polyster, a lesser evil
Another of the materials that we use to manufacture our products is recycled polyester, which mainly originates from plastic bottles.
The recycled polyester fabric is made by the picking of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) from plastic bottles, X-ray plates, fishing nets, etc.
Once the PET is collected, it is washed to eliminate any impurity so they can correctly be triturated. Then the material gets into a casting process where these little pieces are transformed into small filaments that will create the new polyester fiber. Successively the fiber is transformed into a yarn through a conventional spinning process. Some of the fabrics used at Vesica Piscis are made of this recycled yarn from PET.
Despite being aware of the disadvantages that using said bottles has for the planet, the recycling of these bottles helps to soften their environmental impact, increasing their market value and meaning that a larger number is collected, stopping them, as far as possible, from being thrown away and generating non-biodegradable waste.
Their recycling also helps to conserve non-renewable natural resources and to decrease the water and carbon footprint in their production.
NATURAL RUBBER
The white vegetable gold
Natural rubber (NR), is a polymer which appears as a milky emulsion (latex) in the sap of several plants, Hevea brasiliensis - a tree found in Amazon regions, being one of the main sources of its extraction.
Once collected, the liquid collected (latex) is used, among other things, to produce sheets of different thicknesses, known as crepe, a material which is used to prefabricate all of the soles on the different models in our range.
Among the many virtues that can be attributed to natural rubber, its high level of elasticity and optimum resistance to abrasion must be pointed out.
Another reason why Vesica Piscis chose natural rubber as the material for the manufacturing of their soles is the fact that it can be easily recycled, 100% of the used material being reused to make new products.