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MISFIT
Misfit
Copenhagen
I
sit down to write this as the legions are gathering at Copenhagen that, but they tend to live in the warmer parts of the world, and they get
to reduce humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions and halt global themselves shoes just as soon as they can afford to do so.
warming which will shortly destroy the planet. Some of the supporting cast at Copenhagen want us to go back to
Actually it will not destroy the planet which has gone through having a shoemaker in every village, getting his locally tanned leather
much bigger crises than this one, but we can be pretty sure we humans from locally killed cows, tanned which would make us almost saintly as
will not be on it much longer if we go on as we are. Whether this is a far as the environmentalist is concerned. The shoes would be both
good idea depends which side of the bed I got out of this morning, but expensive and crude, not at all what we refer to as hand-made shoes,
on the whole I’d like us to stay around – there are a lot of nice people I’d but far more people would be employed in the shoe industry, if you
miss. could call it that.
All these goings-on at Copenhagen prompted me to ask myself what They tried it in India. Gandhi had this dream of a spinning wheel in
impact we shoe people have on our planet and what we might do to every home, and everyone making his own clothes. India is a lot more
help our species survive. prosperous since they gave up that idea.
It starts at the beginning. We are told all those cows busy producing On the whole we shoemongers are pretty planet friendly already, in
leather for us are producing 35% of the world’s excess methane. In fact very friendly, because shoes are made for walking, which is the
actual fact it is only 20% and what about all those millions of bovines method of transportation least likely to cause the extinction of our
that roamed the prairies like the Prairies and the
Pampas before we made them extinct? Didn’t they
release methane into the atmosphere? One of our
I long ago came to the conclusion, like Voltaire, that all
Ministers has said we should eat less meat for the
planet’s sake. I leave aside my opinion of ministerial
those nice people who set about putting the world to
comments but if we did so then there would be less
leather for footwear and car seats and leather sofas,
rights usually end up by doing the opposite, and that the
which brings us to the matter of shoes made without
animal skins, which some people advocate.
world would be better off if they all went off and grew
No problem. We can use plastics instead. Put aside
cabbages so people could eat or made shoes so they
the questions about the comfort and durability of
shoes from synthetic materials, their raw material is could get around.
a by-product of the oil industry. I need say no more.
Never mind. There is the whole vegetable kingdom
panting to supply raw materials to us shoemakers. Rubber trees galore species. Regrettably too many people wear their shoes only for walking
are waiting to provide us with soling material, either crepe or from house to car, so if the Copenhagen conferencers could get the rest
vulcanised. And not just soling materials – good old latex can do most of of us to walk more and leave their cars at home, it would be good for
the jobs those nasty chemical adhesives did. Come to think of it, soles the world as well, and more importantly, good for business.
have been made out of wood since the beginning of time. Trees to the The only charges that can be levelled against us are that maybe we
rescue again. They don’t only provide solid soling material, but their use too much plastic in our soles and our newly acquired habit of
bark gives us cork for heels and fillers. making shoes on one side of the globe to be sold and worn on the other
But what about uppers? Well almost any woven fabric can be used side. Moving them around the world is not environmental, but other
for these and indeed have been, but when we look at them in greater than those minor peccadilloes I reckon we leave the court of
detail there are problems. Silk is actually an animal product so that’s environmental opinion without a stain on our character.
out even if we could afford it. Wool is cheaper but it comes off the back Just a thought. How many of the ten thousand plus participants in
of sheep, but our old friend cotton doesn’t so let’s make our uppers out the Copenhagen jamboree walked there or even came by bicycle? It
of cotton. No problem except that cotton is a very thirsty crop and we would be interesting to see how many of them even walked from their
are running short of water in the places where it will grow. hotels to conference centre, but I don’t suppose that would be an
There are a number of natural fibres, like raffia, sisal, jute, hemp and available statistic.
coir, that could be woven into uppers, which sounds good, but they I long ago came to the conclusion, like Voltaire, that all those nice
don’t last very long, which sounds like a good thing, since our people who set about putting the world to rights usually end up by
customers would have to come back every week for a new pair. Sounds doing the opposite, and that the world would be better off if they all
great, but I suspect there is a flaw in that particular argument, like the went off and grew cabbages so people could eat or made shoes so they
punters won’t stand for it and will demand something a bit more could get around.
durable. So, having come to the conclusion that our industry is a good thing
There is, to take the argument to its obvious conclusion. Don’t wear as far as the environment goes, I would like to wish my reader a very
shoes at all. Go barefoot. Quite a lot of people across the planet do just Happy, Prosperous and Green New Year.
10
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FOOTWEAR TODAY
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JANUARY 2010
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