Jean Zeid 06:53, February 5, 2024
Every morning, Jean Zeid delivers the best in terms of innovation. This Monday, he is interested in the initiative of Laure Babin, a business school student. She created Zèta Shoes, a company that makes sneakers made from grapes.
This Monday morning, we put on sneakers made from grapes.
Be careful, these are not shoes for drinking in, but for walking. Yes Alexandre, Ombline, everything is possible in these Positive Initiatives, even sports shoes made from grapes. An eco-responsible project born in 2020 in Bordeaux, makes sense. Behind this astonishing idea, there is Laure Babin, a business school student who branched into the fashion industry before launching into sneakers, the other word for sneakers. Zèta Shoes was born. Zèta like the zero function in mathematics and zero for zero waste. In September 2020, Laure Babin launched a crowdfunding campaign on Ullule. Objective achieved with 2,700 pairs of shoes sold. This allowed it to finance three years of operation in complete independence, without a shareholder.
How are sneakers made from grapes?
It is first necessary to recover grape marc from vineyards, grape marc is what remains after vinification, the skins, seeds and residues which are put aside, dehydrated, purged of their water to only retain dry matter ultimately reduced to powder. This powder is then mixed with recycled cotton and plastic in small quantities to solidify the material. This paste is dyed as desired, spread out to transform it into large strips that look exactly like animal leather. All you have to do is cut out and have the zero waste sneakers assembled by artisans in Portugal.
How much does this pair of sneakers cost?
135 euros first price. Compared to the big basketball brands, it's a little more expensive, but not much more expensive. Unfortunately, designer tennis shoes are not cheap. Which doesn't stop Laure Babin from being a hit. It opened its first store last September in the city center of Bordeaux.
There are now nine in the team, 40,000 pairs of sneakers sold in three with a turnover in 2023 of one million euros. Better yet, the areas of development. Recently, Zèta Shoes launched a collaboration with Nespresso to revalue their coffee grounds without forgetting ideas for recycling plastic but also algae proliferating on the coasts again with the aim of manufacturing their shoes.
We will say that this is rather expected. Zèta has a biodegradable plantable basketball project. When you're tired of your old, stained sneakers, you won't throw them away, but you'll plant them. There they will decompose before small seeds lodged in the soles give flowers or plants. A project for 2025.