Eco-Friendly Materials

Looking for biodegradable shoes? Meet Rackle hemp footwear.

The Rackle brand was built on the principle of developing biodegradable shoes to help lessen the shoe industry's impact on the planet, one pair at a time.

Producing earth-friendly footwear was not an overnight success for us. We wanted to use materials that are both kind to the planet and also cost efficient. We narrowed our focus to plant-based materials. Continued analysis and testing lead to hemp, the source and material for what is being used in all Rackle footwear uppers today.

Rackle Shoes POP DisplayPLANT-BASED UPPERS.

SUSTAINABLE.

Hemp is one of the most sustainable crops in the world. It thrives by absorbing CO2, requires no irrigation and can be harvested just three months after planting. Produced entirely without any pesticides, hemp easily outperforms fiber production per hectare versus cotton. One (1) acre of hemp will produce as much fiber as 2 to 3 acres of cotton. Also, hemp fiber is softer than cotton, lasts twice as long as cotton, is water-resistant and will not mildew. Industrial hemp, used in a variety of products such as paper, construction materials and food, has essentially zero THC in it.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS.

Our 100% hemp uppers are extremely comfortable to wear all year-round. Hemp is a naturally low thermally conductive fiber, which means that it's cool when it's hot and warm when it's not. Hemp is also inherently antimicrobial – as little as just 15% hemp combined with a neutral matrix (such as polyester) will kill 99.9% of present staph bacteria.

Hemp is one of the strongest and lightest natural fibers on the planet and is resistant to degradation from UV rays and salt water. At one time, maritime sails and rigging were made from industrial hemp.

EcoPure® FOAM SOLES

Adding EcoPure® to the manufacturing process of traditional plastics accelerates the rate of biodegradation after disposal in a landfill.

  • EcoPure® additives are tested using the ASTM D5511 test method and proven to biodegrade plastic at a highly accelerated rate.
  • EcoPure® is an organic additive used to accelerate the rate at which plastics biodegrade.* Once exposed to enzymes that act as catalysts found in landfills and other naturally created chemicals, the microorganisms will penetrate the treated plastic while other ingredients expand the molecular structure, allowing  for incoming microbes to break down the polymer chains.

EcoPure® is formulated to begin the biodegradation process when it is surrounded by microbes present in a landfill environment. This means that EcoPure® treated plastics will only begin to biodegrade* at the end of the usable product life.

Click here to read about the unique design and performance of our three-density foam soles. 

As we release additional products, we'll continue to focus on sustainability and environmentally-friendly materials. Whatever materials we utilize, you can be assured that they will be ethically sourced and friendly to the planet.

BiodegradableHigg Index

 

* Biodegradation rates of EcoPure-treated materials measured according to the ASTM D5511 test method. Tests are generally conducted using 20% to 30% solids content; solids content in naturally wetter landfills range from 55% to 65%, while the driest landfills may reach 93%. Actual biodegradation rates will vary in biologically-active landfills according to the type of material used, the product configuration, and the solid content, temperature and moisture levels of the landfill.