Alice + Whittles Launches Vegan, Recycled Weekend Boot

August 18, 2020

TORONTO, CANADA (Aug. 18, 2020) — Alice + Whittles, the Toronto-based ethical outdoor footwear brand, has launched the Weekend Boot. Designed for year-round, all-day comfort, the Weekend Boot is 100 percent vegan and free of any virgin plastics. With a versatile design, the boot is at home on the trail or downtown, and pairs performance with environmentally sustainable materials for a shoe that requires no compromises.

“We set out to make the one pair of boots you’ll reach for all year, whether you’re out for a hike or running errands,” said CEO and co-founder Sofi Khwaja-Horekens. “Our goal was to make a boot that you can feel good about at every level, from the materials to the production to the way it helps you move through the world.”

The water resistant upper is made from repurposed marine plastic, and the temperature control lining is made with recycled synthetic wool. The anti-slip lug sole is made from natural and sustainable rubber (45 percent recycled). The laces are crafted from 100 percent recycled PET, and there are additional laces available in three bright colors.

Alice + Whittles grew from Khwaja-Horekens’s work in international relief work and development. The brand seeks out the most environmentally friendly materials, builds ethical and sustainable supply chains, and works closely with manufacturing partners to provide meaningful work in communities around the world. The brand builds long term partnerships with producers and takes into consideration fair pay, working conditions, advance payments, improving the relative position of women and other disadvantaged groups and continued improvement in environmental standards while making beautiful products.

The Weekend Boot signals the brand’s emergence in the outdoor market, building on years of success with an ethically produced, minimalist rain boot. In addition to centering sustainability at the brand, Alice + Whittles values representation and diversity in the outdoor market.

“It’s time that we start to open up the narrative of how we as diverse and inclusive societies interact with the outdoors. Historically, brands have reduced our interactions to a very narrow and monolithic notion of the outdoor enthusiast as the often male, almost always white conqueror,” said Khwaja-Horekens. “Diverse voices and stories of the outdoors are left untold, and prevailing power structures and very outdated binaries of our relationship with nature are reinforced. This has got to change and we are going to be a part of leading the way.”

The Weekend Boot is available at www.aliceandwhittles.com, and retails for $200.