Our Journey to Sustainability

Spring/Summer ’23 422 Styles

This Earth Day, See Kai Run would like to share with you our journey and the steps we are taking to make Earth a cleaner, healthier planet. It is estimated that the footwear industry is responsible for 1.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). And according to an MIT study¹, most of this carbon footprint comes from the manufacturing process of a shoe. This led us to explore new designs and processes that would help reduce our carbon footprint.

Last year See Kai Run introduced the 422 collection, featuring styles specifically designed to help reduce a shoe’s carbon impact on the environment. This seasons’ 422 collection continues with the release of the Monterey Recycled Stripes and Black Neon.

422 Monterey Black Neon
422 Monterey Recycled Stripes

The 422 styles have a 100% recycled canvas upper, with 60% recycled elastic laces and a rubber outsole that uses 20% recycled rubber. The 422 styles have no plastic or metal, which clog landfills. In addition, the 422 styles use a minimalist design approach. The study by MIT found the carbon footprint in sneakers is high because there are so many parts and processes involved in manufacturing a shoe. (“A typical pair of running shoes comprises 65 discrete parts requiring more than 360 processing steps to assemble.” - Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office. ²)422 styles embrace a minimalist design approach, which reduces parts and processes and thus it’s carbon footprint.

Ryder FlexiRun Knit Gray/Multi

Additionally, we’ve adapted this minimalist design approach for many other See Kai Run styles including our Knit styles which feature a sock-like, recycled yarn upper.

Basics by See Kai Run

All Basics by See Kai Run styles use the minimal design approach and deliver the comfort and performance found in other See Kai Run collections.

Our journey towards sustainability goes beyond just design and manufacturing; last year we integrated the EcoCart app onto seekairun.com. This app allows shoppers to offset the carbon footprint of their purchase. The EcoCart algorithm determines the exact cost of offsetting the emissions from manufacturing & shipping of each order, and then donates the off-set monies to vetted projects that work towards combatting climate change. (View some of those projects here.) This Earth Day, See Kai Run will pay for all carbon offset orders for the entire day.

At See Kai Run we will continue to explore new steps and actions that we can take to make the planet a better, cleaner, and more beautiful place.

References 1 & 2: https://bit.ly/3LaVfyQ