The sustainable shoe brand, D’bris, which makes footwear from ocean plastic and car tires, is in reaching distance of their global Kickstarter campaign goal.
Copacabana local, Sam Shearer, is the Sales and Brand Manager of D’bris and said the idea to make sustainably friendly shoes came out of a dream to see less waste in the ocean.
The pithy byline for D’bris Shoes is ‘our shoes are trash’.
To receive the funding from the crowdfunding platform, the entrepreneurial start-up needs just over $5,000 more to reach their target of $40,000 by 8 am Wednesday 17.
“This is all started over in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was founded by two of my very good friends who are Swedish.
“I lived over there for a year, and while I was there we thought about how we could make a sustainable shoe, and also get a bit of plastic out of the ocean by making a good product out of it.
“It is an all or nothing Kickstarter campaign, so if we don’t raise the $40,000, we don’t get anything,” Shearer said.
Central Coast local, Reed Plumber, is also involved with the start-up working as the businesses Ocean Preservationist.
The shoes are currently being produced in a factory in Spain, which is at the forefront when it comes to sustainability using solar power and recycling leftover materials.
The outside of the converse style shoes is made mostly out of car tires, with a mix of natural rubber and recycled rubber scraps.
The upper canvas is made from high-quality polyester yarn made from 100% recycled post-consumer plastic, with between 5-10% of the waste used being captured directly from the oceans and beaches by local fishermen and NGOs.
Co-founders Joe Newcombe and Magnus Ekermann came up with the idea by chatting over the need for a pair of sustainable and durable shoes in their regular skate meetings around the city of Copenhagen.
Pro-surfer and environmentalist from Portugal, Miguel Blanco is a supporter of the business and said that products like D’bris need to be made more accessible to help raise awareness about environmental problems.
Jacinta Counihan
A link to the Kickstater campaign is here. (This link will expire sometime after the campaign is concluded)