Taking a quick look at the African American contribution to fashion footwear and waste.
TRENDSETTERS
As a primary contributor to fashion trends, African Americans are also responsible for the waste output.
The Sneaker industry generated $2.75 billion in 2023. In regards to shoe waste, African American Sneaker Culture represent over 50% of the Sneaker consumption in the US. However, has stake in only 5% of footwear retail ownership, and just above 0% of the fashion waste management sector.
Trillions of Years
There are over 41 million African Americans residing in the United States. Of which, each owns seven or more pairs of shoes. If each person throws away or “donates” their shoes each year, that equates to 287,000,000 pairs of shoes estimated to have hit the landfills in 2023. It is safe to say that number is similarly the case for years prior.
With shoes taking 40 years to decompose, African Americans impact the environment with 11 trillion lbs of CO2 emissions and waste.
What To Do With Shoe Waste
Shoe Waste, a footwear recycling and recovery solution is the trailblazer in Black-owned fashion waste management. The goal is to take what would be throw away shoes from the footwear industry, deconstruct and convert the waste into viable materials for the circular economy.
Recycling shoes extend the life cycle and promotes expansion of the salvage industry. With 10 waste stream characteristics, there is an unmatched value chain that can be discovered.
New Green Jobs
Working together with Black Sustainability Inc., our goal is to educate, inform, and train the next generation of skilled industry leaders.
By taking the next step to learn more information about our Footwear Decon Training Course taking place in Atlanta, GA – you will be at the forefront of the future of manufacturing.
Sign up below and we will keep you up to date on announcements and events focused on this initiative.