While we find it hard to maintain sustainability most especially in this country, enviro-social entrepreneurs made rounds in the local fashion scene with its take on sustainable footwear made with a very Filipino material—pineapple fibers.
Lakat Sustainables, launched in 2021 by Banj and and Mike Claparols, come up with a new way to use sustainably sourced materials—by turning pineapple and cotton fibers into sneakers.
This started when the two went to a trade fair years ago and had this brilliant idea that it’s time to create something sustainable, something sustainable like sneakers. They know that the Philippines is gifted with different kinds of fibers and they thought of using this as an advantage in the retail world, gain the popularity because of its sustainability, alongside helping the farmers and weavers in business.
The shoe upper is made using pineapple and cotton fibers and hand-woven by weavers from Negros Island. The insoles use 100% non-woven pineapple fabric while the outsoles are created using rubber produced by farmers in Mindanao. Mixed with the rubber outsoles are pineapple and cotton fibers that were discarded during the yarn spinning process.
“Lakat” actually means “walk” in Bisaya. Apart from looking after the welfare of workers, it has adopted production methods from the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) that turn natural fibers into sustainable textiles. The brand also makes use of solar-powered decorticating machines for lesser carbon footprint.
The homegrown sneaker brand recently introduced its Spring/Summer 2022 collection inspired by city summers. The color range goes from an intense shade of yellow (Daytime) to a cool slate of gray (Ether) to a deep navy (Cosmos). All shades are available in both low cut and high-top styles.
A “lo-cut” Lakat sneaker is priced at ₱3,960 while a pair of “hi-cut” shoes is sold at ₱4,220.
You can purchase the shoes by asking queries on their Instagram account here.
