Each day we learn more and more about the impact of fast fashion on our planet. Primal Soles proposes us to face this by taking care of ourselves and planting differently with the first 100% recyclable insoles on the planet.
Although many times we use insoles for medical reasons, the truth is that we change footwear very often due to fashion purchases and cheap options in megastores.
Fast fashion continues to advance by leaps and bounds. 92 million tons of garments, as estimated, end up in landfill. This fashion for waste is worrisome, mainly because many of the threads used in the fabrics have a synthetic base, that is to say… plastic. And sadly, insoles are almost always included in that group.
We all know that change begins at home. But there are people who feel the need to create collective solutions. That’s the case for Primal Soles inventors. As they say, these are the planet’s first 100% recyclable, circular and sustainable shoe insoles made from natural cork.
“The insoles that came with your favorite pair of shoes are probably paper-thin right now. Your insoles wear out. And when they do, it’s time to throw them away. On a landfill somewhere, where traditional synthetic insoles will stay for generations. Over a 100 million of them every year.”
David, Primal Soles Founder
Why cork?
Cork is sustainable: sourced from the Mediterranean endemic cork oak tree, the Quercus suber, cork is harvested every nine years from the bark of the tree.
A natural product that does not harm the tree and naturally regenerates its bark while reducing CO2. The harvest is only in the hands of professionals. It takes place between May and August, when the tree is at its most active phase of growth.
Awesome fact: Did you know that the cork tree actually improves its ability to take CO2 out of the atmosphere when regularly stripped of its bark over its 200 year lifetime?
Are you aware of your “stand”?
Truth to be told, before we knew David, we weren’t.
The incredible thing about sharing experiences and paths is waking up and starting to pay attention to our daily actions.
Walking is one of our most automated actions, however when we have a more intense or stressful day, our feet may begin to feel discomfort.
And it’s not just our foot, this affects our entire being. A good foot posture makes a difference, it prevents neck, shoulder and back pain. It also contributes to better breathing and digestion.
Have you ever stopped to think about how many steps you take per month? Or in a year? On average, a person will take over 200 million steps in a lifetime.
5 top reasons to wear insoles in your shoes:
- optimize the properties of the shoe
- stabilize the foot
- improve the alignment of the body
- promote natural cushioning
- limit the lengthening of the foot and its fatigue
Meet David Even – PRIMAL Soles founder
David started this company in 2021. Their mission is to stop the hundreds of millions of synthetic, non-recyclable insoles that end up in landfill waste by creating a revolutionary 100% sustainable product.
The inspiration:
“I have always been very active and wanted something comfortable to walk on. It existed: specialty socks, synthetic insoles, you name it. And so I spent a lot of money on all of the aforementioned. However, something was missing, and I saw this in many companies I had worked with in the past. Accountability. Responsibility. Transparency. Companies only cared about one thing and one thing only: bottom line. I wanted to change that. But how does one person change anything? By doing.”
The idea:
“We had a vision to provide maximum comfort combined with minimal footprint for one of our most primal activities: walking.
Since this did no yet exist in the market, our goal was to provide easy access for everyone to the most comfortable, natural and recyclable shoe insoles. Because we believe that everybody deserves to move with comfort.”
The material:
“The most difficult decision has been to not accept the fact that our supplier wasn’t able to produce 100%recyclable shoe insoles. We almost lost all that we had invested before we even hit the market. We were told that making a fully recyclable insole could just not be done. After all, no one had ever done it before! But we persisted, our suppliers persisted and together we have indeed created our planet’s very first fully recyclable shoe insoles.”
Bonus track: Meet QURC
QURC produces sneakers that are made of the finest raw materials available. Furthermore, all the materials we use are 100% vegan.
These awesome designed sneakers are made from a cork-leather upper, waxed cotton laces and vegan onstream lining!