Eco Partners and Materials and Construction

How are we looking after your feet and the planet

Eco Partners and Materials

Terra Plana works with companies who make materials in a range of environmentally friendly ways.

We believe in freeing your feet. We make all of our soles as flexible as possible so your feet can move as nature intended.

Choolips

Choolips design and produce prints that are created in the traditional batik way using a fair trade model in Ghana. We use the prints in small panels to add flashes of colour throughout our range.

Canvas

All of the canvas we use in our shoes is 100% organic and comes from sustainable sources.

Quilt

Terra Plana has been using Saami quilts in our shoes since Autumn 2005. The Saami are semi-nomadic people, living in the desert of Sindh, Pakistan. In an area where quilt making is very common amongst all communities, the Saami have been producing their quilts from vibrant and unique cotton swatches and patches, which clearly distinguishes them from any other type of quilt. The quilts are made within family groups so no two quilts are ever the same. Our hero styles are handmade using recycled quilts sourced from a Pakistani women’s co-operative. Created in limited quantities; each shoe is completely unique.

Eco PU

Unlike most Polyurethanes, the PUs we use in our Vegan line are non-toxic. They are made with minimum effluents and maximum efficiency in a factory where all by-products are properly treated to ISO14001 standards.

Vegetable Tanned Leather

Our suppliers use a tanning process that favours vegetable extracts over heavy metals or toxins to create rich, beautiful leathers.

Athletic Mesh

This is a functional mesh used throughout the collection. The cover is composed of 100% recycled plastic bottle fibre, the middle layer is completely biodegradable and the lining is made from 50% recycled plastic bottle fibre.

Our Soles

Our soles are made from reconstituted natural latex and rice husks. However, these are some of the most hardwearing, non-slip soles on the market; we don’t sacrifice performance for eco-friendliness.

Recycled Nylon

All the nylon we use in our shoes is made from 100% recycled plastic bottle fibres.

Insole

Our insoles are non-toxic and made without the use of any heavy metals. We use 70% recycled Polyurethane and natural cork. This means all the insoles are moisture wicking, odour absorbing, fast drying and anti-bacterial.

Gel Pads

Shoes shouldn’t hurt. Having to buy accessories to make sure they don’t just doesn’t make sense to us. Our solution? In addition to our memory foam insoles, we have also created non-toxic and biodegradable gel pads built right into our shoes.

Anti-Mould Sticker

We’ve replaced the traditional silica gel pack often found in shoeboxes with a non-toxic anti-mould sticker. This does exactly the same job and is made using natural plant essences.

Recyclable Paper/Cardboard

All our printed materials, from catalogues to leaflets to our shoe trees (the things that keep the shape of the shoes), are made from recycled paper or cardboard.

Construction:

Terra Plana Pop

Unlike most shoes that contain upwards of 30 components and a lot of glue, the ‘Terra Plana Pop’ uses minimal glue to connect only 12 components. The result is a truly modular shoe, which is lightweight, flexible, ergonomically crafted and boasts an interchangeable sole that is easy to repair or to switch for a fresh look.

Terra Plana Turn

On a standard ‘Turn’ construction, the upper is stitched to the midsole and turned inside out, a sole is then glued on. With our ‘Turn’ construction we stitch the upper directly onto the sole; this reduces material and glue significantly. The shoe is then turned inside out and the insole is inserted without using any glue.