On March 31st, Melissa X Rombaut shares a collection of 100% recyclable shoes using recycled and sustainable materials. The collection offers spring palettes such as minty green, pastel purple, white and caramel, perfect for the season coming up.
Melissa is known for their famous jelly sandals from the 70s, they have been actively launching cross-branding collaborations with famous brands such as Viktor & Rolf, Lazy-Oaf and Vivienne Westwood. Paris-based Belgian vegan accessories designer Mats Rombaut is also known for his crazy vegan, cyberpunk, chunky footwear designs that are loved by many celebrities such as Bella Hadid. Rombaut commented that “Our brand is vegan and takes sustainability seriously, our collaborations need to have meaning and set a good example on how to make things better”
“We are proud and excited about the result we were able to achieve with this project that represents one more step in our sustainability journey.” Melissa’s global brand manager Raquel Scherer said, “With this collaboration, Melissa explores its commitment to sustainability while delivering a fun, innovative, and visually striking premium product that will ultimately be accessible and attainable to fashion lovers.”
The collection features the two brands’ signature designs — Melissa’s traditional Possession sandals and Rombaut’s Boccaccio sneakers with chunky soles. Rombaut x Melissa shoes are made from the up-cycled PVC shoes collected from the drop-offs. Each of Melissa’s stores has a drop-off point where customers can drop off their old jelly sandals. The shoes are then melted down and re-modeled into different types of shoes. Each shoe has 4 colorways, and are made of 50% recycled PVC and ~30% of renewable carbon content from soy beans, other vegetable oils and sugarcane.The laces are created from recycled plastic bottles, and the glitters are replaced by rice husk.
Only 100 pairs are being manufactured because of the limited amount of shoes being recycled this way. The shoes are priced between €99 and €159 and is available on Rombaut’s website, LN-CC, ssense, and selected Melissa retailers worldwide.
