Responsible footwear isn’t just about the materials that go into making them, but also how long they last. Fully aware that longer lasting footwear is key to sustainable gear, Patagonia recently partnered exclusively with Mountain Soles to offer resoles and repairs on the company’s popular footwear styles.
“We’re excited that Patagonia has developed footwear which can be serviced and maintained for a longer life,†said Matt Menely of Mountain Soles. “We’ve always shared a similar ethos with the Patagonia brand. Much like the tinshed, Mountain Soles started in a single car garage in Southeast Portland, seeking to use our trade to help reduce people’s environmental footprint by keeping essential gear out of landfills. We’ve been hoping for a long time that more footwear companies would take up this challenge and produce more sustainable and resoleable shoes and Patagonia Footwear has jumped in feet first.â€
Resoling your shoes means giving them a longer life, and a longer life means less shoes that end up in the landfill. That’s an important thing to consider next time you’r oggling over a new pair of boots. At a price of $50-$80, resoling is actually close to the cost of a new pair of shoes, but factor in the natural resources and manpower used to make a new pair and it’s soon clear that resoling a pair of kicks has much less of an environmental impact than buying a new one.
