photo of Ryan Hunt of Algix & Bloom Foam
In the picture above is Ryan Hunt of Algix & Bloom Foam. I’m going to work on a visit to their facility because they are located less than 3 hours away from where I live. I’ve been in the sneaker industry for over ten years and I’ve never heard of the company, but they are doing some of the most incredible and profoundly important work in the footwear industry. Less than 3 hours away and I didn’t know they existed until two days ago.
I had the benefit of being invited to speak on a panel at FIS 2019 in Los Angeles this past week. First, I want to thank James Gau of FMNII and Dr. Geoffrey Gray of Heeluxe for reaching and considering me for the panel. Second, I have to add,
I. Am. Overwhelmed.
While I’ve been deeply involved in the footwear and apparel industry professionally since 2004, by operating outside of the brand and corporate structure I didn’t have a reason to focus on issues of sustainability. Well, I have focused on it as I transitioned ARCH and AHN into a more informative sneaker website. I’ve discussed issues with sustainability as it relates to brands, but what I failed to do was recognize the staggering number of partners involved in the collaborative effort to improve the industry. Just this past week I was scolded (lightly, lol) by Nicoline van Enter of the Footwearists, that I was undervaluing the companies behind the sustainability efforts. I retorted that I understood, but thought the brands that owned their work in that area were doing a better job. I even shared posts like this to prove I was ‘smart’:
How Sustainability and Renewable Energy Will Help Nike Improve In North America | Marketing
Insider Ties: ASICS Listed on Dow Jones Sustainability Asia/Pacific Index 2016
The reality is I didn’t know 1/100th of the work that is taking place. In other words, for everything that I’ve researched, without physically attending the FIS 2019, I wouldn’t have a real grasp on how much is being done and how much more needs to be done.
James Gau’s goal with FIS is to create a bridge for the future. In his words,
For a long time, the industry in Asia has a misconnection with access to technology and innovation. It is our vision and mission to bridge the gap with the FIS events.
As we continue to accomplish our mission to promote Digital Transformation and Sustainable Sourcing for the footwear industry, we foresee continuing collaborations with outstanding organizations like yours, whether in events or business development.
Now that I’ve been schooled, not enough, but it’s a start… I’m going to make sure that I share as much information as possible. Here on AHN I’ll be writing about every company and brand I was able to talk with during the event (and some I didn’t get to meet with). This is extremely important as I was invited to speak on e-commerce and the transition to digital in the footwear industry. While digital transformation would appear to have a smaller footprint on the environment, it really doesn’t. The worst part is my conversation on e-commerce leads to more shoes being sold, which in all honesty isn’t a ‘good’ thing, but that’s not a black and white issue. It’s all very complex, but I’ll be writing posts to introduce you to some of the work being done. Each post will have a byline that has the word SUSTAINABILITY in it. It will take some time to get started, but this is the least that I can do. I only hope those sites that co-opt content from AHN take this dialogue because the sneaker community needs to be educated on what those 100 plus pair of kicks purchased by one person a year does to our world.
Stay tuned for a lot of posts and a big thank you to James Gau and Dr. Geoff, and all of the amazing speakers at FIS 2019. I wish I had videotaped more and took more pictures instead of being invited as a speaker. Next time I’ll do both. Stay tuned.