Yesturdays News is Todays Shoes
A Taiwanese fashion designer is turning yesterday's headlines into tomorrow's shoes. Colin Lin is using recycled newspapers to provide those finishing touches to any woman's wardrobe. A girl just can't have too many shoes - and if they're hand made all the better.
New eco-friendly designs hitting the shops in Taiwan are made almost entirely out of recycled newspapers. It's not the obvious choice of material for footwear, but the producers say their shoes won't end up a soggy mess if you're caught wearing them in the rain.
Wu Mao-Shen, the Manager of All Black Footwear, says that each newspaper strip is made durable and sturdy by attaching a cotton lining to the back and adding a plastic coating to give them a shiny, waterproof finish.
Colin Lin, producer of All Black Footwear, says she was inspired by the enormous piles of discarded newspapers. The shoes and matching tote bags come replete with telltale Chinese characters that are printed in Taiwanese newspapers.
Since their launch late last year, the firm has sold about 4,000 pairs of newspaper shoes made of recycled newspaper.
The products are very much in line with Lin's environmentally friendly approach to business - one that in recent years has led her to use fish skin and raffia as replacements for leather.
The designer has been in the shoemaking business for 26 years and publicly encourages her business rivals to follow her lead and think creatively about the connection between the environment and manufacturing.
The products might be green, but a labour intensive manufacturing process means they don't come cheap.
A pair of paper shoes takes 3-4 hours to make and sells for $100-150, while a tote bag takes as much as 2-3 days and can go for up to $260.
More News
- The Underemployed
- Emotional Toll of Unemployment
- Senegal: 10th edition of the international Biennial event of the African Art
- Business Avenues Explored through Cultural Exchange
- World Bank
- Oil rises to above $93 as traders mull Europe
- Obama calls on Congress to help small businesses
- Shareholders sue JPMorgan over $2B trading loss
- UN team in Syria stayed with rebels after attack
- Assad says Syrians support his reform efforts
