From Waste
to Shoes

Sanjeev Bahl had a fabulous idea. The President of Saitex International, a denim manufacturer in Vietnam, took material waste, production left-overs and B-grade Jeans from his factory to make a line of shoes with an upper made from recycled denim. All proceeds from the sale of the shoes went to an orphanage near Ho Chi Minh City.

In 2014, PUMA worked together with Saitex International on this “Re-Cut Project”. The factory is one perfect example of how we would like to see our suppliers integrate sustainability into their operations: It is producing their own energy through solar panels and miniature windmills, they collect rainwater and are reducing water use, they dry the jeans naturally and turn their sludge – a typical byproduct of jeansmaking – into non-hazardous bricks for community building projects. On top, all of these initiatives generate savings and contribute to an improved profitability showing clearly that sustainability can have an added value to the business for a win-win situation.

Sanjeev Bahl presented his concept at PUMA’s 12th annual stakeholder dialogue “Talks at Banz” in November, where we openly discuss our social and environmental responsibilities with different organizations, such as United Nations, International Labor Organizations, WWF and others.