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Fashion trending footwear made from recycled water bottles
7:54pm IST - 01:51
A San Francisco start-up is embracing environmental sustainability and cashing in with a line of woman's shoes made of recycles water bottles. Ben Gruber has more.
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STORY: This is a Rothy. And this is what a Rothy looks like before it's transformed into fashion-trending footwear. The idea of developing a line of woman's flats from recycled water bottles is the brainchild of two men who, up until 4 years ago, didn't know the first thing about shoes. SOUNDBITE (English) STEPHEN HAWTHORNWAITE, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, ROTHY'S, SAYING: "What Roth and I joke about today is that if we knew then what we know now, we never would have done this. But the beautiful thing is that at a certain point, we were so deep into it that we felt we needed to continue." And by continuing, the team developed a method to create what is arguably the most eco-friendly shoe ever made. SOUNDBITE (English) ROTH MARTIN, CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ROTHY'S, SAYING: "For us it was about adapting recycled waste that comes to us in the form of plastic water bottles. We sterilize those bottles, hot wash them, they get chipped into flake and then they are extruded into a very soft filament fiber." Those fibers are then loaded into a 3D knitting machine guided by computer algorithms designed to minimize waste during shoe assembly. Taking the eco-friendly theme a step further, the knitted fabric and insole are then attached to the shoe's outsole, made from responsibly-sourced no-carbon rubber. Rothy's got noticed by Gwyneth Paltrow last year and since then the team have had to increase production to keep up with demand. SOUNDBITE (English) ROTH MARTIN, CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ROTHY'S, SAYING: "The other great thing is that we are not going to run out of water bottles any time soon. So we have an infinite supply of material and I think that bodes well for our future." Rothy's offers their clients a free-of-charge option to send the used flats back -- where the salvaged shoes get recycled again, completing a sustainability loop that's sure to keep eco-conscious consumers coming back to order more.
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Fashion trending footwear made from recycled water bottles
7:54pm IST - 01:51
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