How do you like your coffee? Noir? With milk? Or maybe on your feet? A Finnish shoe company has raised more than $800,000 ($1.1 million) to produce shoes partially made from used coffee grounds.

Helsinki-based shoe company Rens said it created a waterproof shoe made from coffee waste and recycled plastic bottles.

This is an attempt to reduce the environmental impact of used coffee grounds, which – when broken down in landfills – release methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. .

It is estimated that 6 million tons of used coffee grounds are sent to landfill each year.

“When we started, we actually realized that only 5% of coffee waste in the world was actually recycled,” says Jesse Tran, co-founder and CEO of Rens.

“And coffee waste is actually biowaste, but it actually produces a lot of methane, which is 32 times more potent than the greenhouse gas CO2. So what we’re doing here is we’re extending just the cycle of life.”

Rens says a pair of his first-generation “Original” shoes contain about 300 grams of coffee waste, the equivalent of 21 cups of java.

The original design launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.(Provided: Rens)

The waste is processed and then combined with plastic pellets from recycled bottles to make a polyester yarn for the upper part of the sneaker.

The outsole of the shoe is made of natural rubber.

Rens says its coffee waste comes from large convenience store chains in Asia.

The shoes are made in a factory in Vietnam, one of the largest coffee producers in the world.

“After we bought it and threw it away, we actually took it and mixed it with recycled plastic pellets made from used water bottles,” says Tran.

“And so, we created something called coffee polyester yarn. So it’s actually the majority of the upper part of our shoes that is made from these coffee polyester yarns.”

After coming up with the idea in July 2017, the company’s co-founders launched an online fundraising campaign on the Kickstarter site in June 2019.

He reached his goal in 24 hours and raised over $550,000 from over 5,000 backers.

A follow-up campaign in August raised more than $350,000 to produce a second-generation version of the sneakers, named “Nomad”, with laces also made from coffee scraps and recycled plastic.

a woman is sitting on a ledge in the park
Rens says its coffee waste comes from large convenience store chains in Asia.(Provided: Rens)

“In the market, sustainable products were very popular. What we see as a problem is that these products [are] just not made for young people,” says co-founder and CTO Son Chu.

“The way they sell the products is, like, ‘Hey, use us or the planet will die.’ We don’t like this approach.

“We want to be a brand where we make products that are sustainable, but they’re cool, they have really cool functions, people can actually use them.”

The company says that while its sneakers are sustainable and partly made from recycled materials, there are associated environmental impacts, such as shipping finished products.

Rens says it will offset all climate emissions from production, packaging, distribution and shipping to make its new “Nomad” coffee sneakers carbon neutral.

For now, durability comes at a steep price — a pair of the company’s latest shoes are listed at US$199 ($275) — with a pre-order price of US$109.

The early success of its café sneakers prompted the company to consider other apparel, becoming a sustainable sportswear brand in its own right.

“We will also add, extend to other garments. And so, whatever product we make, we will apply the same formula, which comes from waste-based materials. It can again be waste from coffee or whatever,” says Trad.

That means coffee t-shirts or java sweaters could one day be headed to a clothing store near you.

PA