All sectors / Sustainable products / Greensole
Founded in 2015 by athletes Shriyans Bhandari and Ramesh Dhami, Greensole is an innovative social enterprise based in Navi Mumbai, India. Driven by the mission to tackle massive footwear waste, the company collects discarded shoes and upcycles them into comfortable, sustainable, and vegan footwear. By refurbishing old shoes, Greensole prevents non-biodegradable waste from ending up in landfills and significantly reduces global carbon emissions. Operating a robust circular economy model, they donate refurbished slippers to underprivileged children, protecting them from foot-related diseases. They also retail their eco-friendly shoes to conscious consumers, utilizing sustainable materials like plant-based fabrics. Greensole further empowers marginalized communities by running skill centers that provide training and employment to rural women and individuals in need. Through its unique blend of environmental conservation, sustainable retail, and profound social impact, Greensole is fundamentally transforming the footwear industry for a greener, more equitable future.
Shriyans Bhandari
CEO
Operating since 2018
11-50 Members
Eco-system
Cities and Towns
Villages
Sub-sectors
Circular Economy and Waste Reduction
Environmental Services
Fashion & Apparel Industry
Social Enterprise
Made From
Sustainability Claim
An Indian social enterprise upcycling discarded shoes into sustainable footwear for retail and donation.
Method and Technique of Greensole are:
Nationwide Discarded Footwear Collection: The enterprise utilizes a highly strategic waste recovery method, actively collaborating with massive corporate partners, academic institutions, and individual donors to systematically collect heavily used, discarded sports shoes before they can be permanently dumped into heavily polluted municipal landfills.
Hygienic Segregation and Sanitization: Greensole employs a deeply rigorous sanitation technique, meticulously inspecting the massive influx of donated shoes to separate usable soles from severely damaged uppers, and subsequently washing and chemically sanitizing the recovered materials to ensure absolute hygiene before any refurbishment begins.
Innovative Sole Die-Cutting and Reshaping: They utilize a highly specialized mechanical upcycling method, securely placing the sanitized, intact shoe bases into specialized die-cutting machinery to precisely stamp out and reshape the old materials into perfectly sized, highly comfortable footbeds for new slippers and sandals.
Eco-Friendly Upper Fabrication: The organization employs a remarkably creative circular fabrication technique, deliberately recovering old shoelaces and discarded apparel textiles, meticulously washing them, and utilizing skilled manual labor to hand-weave or stitch these reclaimed fabrics into durable, vibrant upper straps for their refurbished footwear.
Vegan Material Integration: Greensole utilizes a deeply conscious alternative material sourcing method for its commercial retail line, systematically integrating highly innovative, eco-friendly materials such as recycled PET bottle mesh, coffee grounds, and plant-based vegan leather to construct stylish, zero-cruelty sneakers without relying on toxic animal hides.
Community-Led Manual Assembly: They employ a highly empowering, localized production technique, intentionally avoiding fully automated factory assembly lines to instead deploy thoroughly trained rural women and marginalized individuals at their grassroots skill centers to manually stitch, glue, and assemble the final sustainable footwear products.
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