Shoemaker Andrea Verdura turns fishing nets into fashion statements

Verdura Shoes
Type of organisation or company
Country
Italy
City
Piombino
Language for original content
Project elaborated in partnership
No
Ongoing
Yes
Type of funding
Verdura Shoes
Description

The passion of Andrea for crafting shoes from recycled material started with a broken sandal in Australia; when he spotted an old abandoned tire he turned into a new pair of sandals to resume his walking journey.

Since then, back at home in Piombino on the italian coast, Andrea saw a new creative opportunity in fishing nets beached near its homeplace. Soon enough he was able to integrate it as a strong element in his range of fashionable sandals and boots for women and men.

The fishing nets are cut and washed several times, to soften the fabric for wearability, and then dyed with natural pigments. The nets are then combined with cork for the insole, recycled rubber sole and waste leather left over from shoe production. The sole itself comes in two versions, one composed of recycled Vibram rubber soles and the other of recycled, vegetable-tanned leather.

Main results

All shoes are made locally (in Fucecchio, Tuscany) keeping jobs and production process close to home with minimal environmental impact. Because of the natural dyeing process and handcrafted assembly, each pair of shoes is unique. The 'Net collection' project took off the ground in 2016 with the help of crowdfunding (Kickstarter).