Dealing With Eco Guilt

This Earth Day we have been deemed guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. And condemning evidence is all around us - in our water pipes and our industry-sized landfills, in the air we breathe and the food we eat. We even have substantial space debris now! In no other creature is the disparity between belief and experience so immense, than Man. This dissonance from Nature has cost us dearly, and the climate grief is too much to bear.

We at OCEEDEE have had enough.

Though “shoes can be notoriously difficult to recycle and/or dispose of”, we’ve been busy applying a ‘people lens’ to cultivating consciousness and advocating a sustainable lifestyle, and at OCEEDEE we always like to step up to a challenge.

Our leather materials are ethically resourced and locally procured from Tata International with all necessary certifications. In keeping with our design aesthetics, we work with a very limited color palette and have been employing creative techniques to effectively optimize production cycles. Our carbon footprint is controlled as we exercise multiple eco-friendly parameters, in-keeping with our brand values, such as: 80% plastic-free packaging, seed paper for communication, upcycling in-house leather wastes and others.

We took a respite from the fast fashion marathon to carefully understand all facets of the wastefulness in the production process of footwear. And even though our shoes are innovatively engineered by professional designers and carefully handcrafted by skilled artisans, our analysis revealed that 15-20% materials go to waste during the production of a single batch.

Since its inception, OCEEDEE has always been socially aware and transparent in all its endeavors but now dealing with the eco-guilt has become one of our priority. We’re focusing now to actively indulge with a holistic approach, rather than just restate existing problems.

Greenwashing is not our style, so in our efforts to become sustainably viable, OCEEDEE’s ‘Offcut Project’ has been consciously curated to set in motion some actionable solutions.?

So how are we being eco-conscious? What's our sustainability presence in the fashion landscape? We have integrated Nesting patterns, Dye templates and repurposing offcuts and other leather waste to make product prototypes, smaller shoe components. And now we’re advocating the green way with our conscious collection “Nakshi” -? where skilled artisans meticulously engineer beauty into the fragmented waste bits of leather by-products from our trade that metamorphose into objects of desire. Recycling has never been so fun and rewarding!

Tackling the environmental crisis may seem like a mammoth task and a plastic detox may sound unrealistic, but nothing supersedes the concerns of our Earth.

At OCEEDEE we don’t believe in inventory deadstock. Our shoes are well-designed, keeping in mind not only its lifecycle but also its afterlife. We are mindful in our approach, responsible with our choices and endorse a pro-environmental mindset as a norm. We’re effecting change in small, big and all other ways possible to keep out of landfills, to negate wastefulness and to give back all that Mother Earth deserves and more.?

So what’s your green scene?