When you're finished with your REMYXX shoes, the materials can be separated and fully recycled. Photo: REMYXX
To “recycle” fashion often means finding a reuse idea for that product, not actually recycling its materials.
Many materials can’t be processed through traditional recycling methods, which means both torn and reusable clothing often skip the donation bin for the landfill. Three hundred million pairs of shoes alone wind up in landfills each year.
But what if you could easily take your shoes apart and recycle each piece once you’re done with them? That’s the idea behind REMYXX sneakers – the Keds-style sneakers made from fully recyclable materials, embossed with recycling symbols and decals. When you’re finished wearing your pair of sneakers, the materials are separated and “remyxxed” into new products by simply recycling.
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The company recently completed a Kickstarter fundraising project to take the sneakers to the next level. Founder Gary Gagnon offered donors everything from a REMYXX bumper stickers, sneakers and invitations to a to-be-determined, celebrity studded green event in exchange for monetary funding. By the end of the campaign, REMYXX far surpassed its $39,697 goal at $44,383.
Gary Gagnon, founder of REMYXX sneakers.
The funding will be used for molds, dyes, materials and Kickstarter reward shipping.
“The mission is not only to deliver an enjoyable sustainable sneaker, but also to advocate and initiate improvements in recycling,” Gagnon wrote on the Kickstarter page. “REMYXX are to be worn proudly as a means to share your eco-enthusiasm and instill the importance of products, companies, and individual behaviors that promote and demonstrate good recycling and a green lifestyle.”
In May, Gagnon made his television debut on ABC’s Shark Tank, a show in which a panel of millionaire and billionaire investors hear the proposals of small business owners in exchange equity in their product or business. Gagnon’s shoes caught the eye of FUBU CEO Daymond John, who gave him a $50,000 investment for 80 percent of the company. As of press time, the deal has not closed.
The company’s shoes aren’t yet available to anyone who didn’t pledge to the Kickstarter campaign, but Gagnon hopes the public funding from the campaign will help get the business off the ground as an order-on-demand business.
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