Noa Moussa 08:56, May 27, 2023

You wanted French and eco-responsible sneakers? Here are shoes made from grapes, apples, orange, banana and coconut! Five fruits that go into the composition of the 100% vegan sneakers of the start-up MoEa. An innovation that is already a great success.

In his offices in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, Achille Gazagnes makes an inventory of the shoes he has co-created. "Apple, grape, pineapple, orange, banana and coconut," he lists. This is not the recipe for a smoothie but for pairs of sneakers displayed on shelves, looking and touching quite ordinary.

"What I have in my hands is a normal sneaker. When you wear it in the street, you don't think it's a sneaker that's different. We find the laces, a sportswear sole, the label with the mark on top. There are all the elements that make up a classic sneaker," he told Europe 1.

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Sneakers based on fruit fibers

These 189-euro shoes are produced in Italy and Portugal. Animal material such as leather has been replaced by fruit, while pork or bovine glue that assembles the elements of the shoe has given way to water-based glue.

"We match the plants that are at the origin of the materials with the color. The sneakers that are in yellow, it is made from pineapple fibers. We use the fiber of the leaves of the pineapple, we add to that organic cotton and recycled plastic," he says. "We receive large rolls of materials that are colored with natural dyes and we come to cut them and sew them with a sneaker," says Achille.

In two years, MoEa has sold 30,000 pairs of sneakers. For its next models, the brand wants to increase the percentage of fruit in shoes, on average by 59% today.