Corporate Social Responsibility: The Importance of Sustainable Workwear

What does corporate social responsibility have to do with sustainable workwear ? Why is sustainable workwear so important in the first place? And how does Shoes For Crews come into the picture? Let’s take a look in today’s article!

Sustainability is a topic that is particularly close to our hearts at Shoes For Crews, and we want to do our part by not only producing more sustainably, but also raising awareness about sustainability. After all, our feet cannot get smaller—but our environmental footprint can! 

Sustainable workwear: The social aspects

As we have already seen in the article “Sustainability in the hospitality industry: Where do you start?”, social aspects, alongside environmental and economic aspects, play a major role in sustainability. Social sustainability aims to enable a stable society in which all members can participate and which safeguards human dignity as well as labour and human rights across generations. This stable society starts with companies themselves, by ensuring equal opportunities and fair working conditions. 

And this is where sustainable workwear comes into play. It not only helps create greater sustainability within your own business, but also throughout your supply chain. Of course, when selected correctly, workwear can also promote employee satisfaction, which is another aspect of social sustainability. 

Sustainable workwear: The environmental aspects

Sustainable workwear not only fulfils the social aspects of sustainability, but naturally the environmental aspects as well. We remember that the goal of environmental sustainability is, above all, the protection of biodiversity, the responsible use of resources and slowing climate change. 

A simple step towards environmental sustainability—you may have guessed it already—is purchasing sustainable workwear. By choosing cotton, recycled products and similar materials, you have already done a great deal. And yes, your employees and customers will thank you for it! 

Sustainable workwear: What should you look for?

Finding sustainable clothing—whether workwear or leisurewear—is no easy task. One reason is that the textile industry resembles a global travelling circus and the supply chains for consumers are often difficult to understand. For example, the cotton for a T-shirt may be grown sustainably in Africa, but then travel across Asia to be dyed: not particularly sustainable!

Fortunately, there is a very simple yet essential criterion for clearly defining sustainability in clothing: durability! The longer an item of clothing is worn, the more the resources inevitably required for its production are offset over time.

You should therefore look for high-quality and ethically produced workwear from companies that are open and transparent about their production processes and conditions.

Sustainable workwear: The Shoes For Crews range

At Shoes For Crews, we know how important corporate social responsibility is when it comes to sustainability. That is why we offer a completely new concept for our occupational and safety shoes, based on the continuous development of sustainable production and the use of more and more recycled materials. This enables us not only to offer our customers safe, high-quality shoes, but also to help them do their part for greater sustainability. After all, sustainable workwear starts with sustainable shoes!

Our strategy for sustainable products consists of various steps illustrated in the graphic. The efforts mentioned below offer only a small insight into our transition towards an even more sustainable corporate culture.

Use of recycled materials

Using recycled materials requires new production processes, which means a complete change cannot happen overnight. That is why we are particularly proud that, since 2022, we have been able to produce the inner lining of all our shoe models from 100% recycled PET. In addition, we now use only insoles made from recycled EVA. This material comes largely from discarded flip-flops and industrial production waste—so we not only save resources, but also promote the circular economy!

Building production capacity in the EU

We are relocating 30% of our production to the EU, specifically to Portugal and Italy. This results in shorter delivery routes and a more sustainable supply chain.

Introducing the Eco-Range

With the introduction of our Eco-Range , we already offer a sustainable product range made from materials containing predominantly recycled components. Liberty II, Everlight, Saloon II (occupational shoe “OB”) and Cater II (occupational shoe “OB”) are available as Eco versions.

 Would you like to find out more about Shoes For Crews’ sustainability goals? Or discuss with our experts how you can integrate sustainable workwear into your business? Contact us anytime—we will be happy to help.