Leading the Footwear Industry into the Future
Smart Shoes: A Sustainable Solution for Environmental cost of Space
Cluttered apartments, overflowing closets, and glove compartments that won’t close: it’s easy to have too much stuff. Sooner or later, all that stuff must be reorganized, given away, or thrown out. But reducing waste isn’t just a consumer issue, it’s an environmental one. The things we make and buy must end up somewhere when they’re no longer useful or desirable, and many products end their life cycles in the trash. Every year, the footwear industry throws away more than 90% of the 25 billion shoes produced worldwide without recycling.
What if we changed that?
It starts with understanding the problem. Although throwing away things like food or paper doesn’t always feel good, these items are biodegradable: they break down naturally into the environment. And, with a little processing, both items can be transformed into different (but useful) products after use. Food waste can enter a second life as compost, and paper can become card or cardboard. Both examples model circularity, where a product or resource is used, it's then recycled, composted, or re-used in a way that allows it to go back into a new lifecycle. In addition to food or paper, many other products can be recycled—even if doing so proves more difficult.
What goes into applying circularity to a product like footwear? The materials that make up shoes are usually not biodegradable. 90% or more of discarded shoes find their way into the landfill, not into a “second life” as a recycled and still useful piece of material. Compounding this problem, many shoes are thrown away before they are even worn out, wasting functional and productive value.
Baliston is tackling these problems head-on, with shoes that are made of just five bio-based, recyclable components, which effectively circulates worn-out shoes back into other productive goods over time. But there’s still the second problem. If a still-useful shoe is thrown away, how can you mitigate its lost functional and productive value?
Baliston's Innovative Solution
The solution is in the world’s first sustainable smart shoe platform. Baliston shoes are made with five eco-sourced, 100% recyclable materials. Our revolutionary in-sole sensors track wear, enabling convenient replacements and WE recycle them at no additional cost to you — or the planet. It starts with Baliston+ membership, an intentionally designed and genuinely sustainable subscription service that doesn’t sacrifice the environment for your walking health.
You come first. Leveraging sophisticated algorithms and users’ individual data, Baliston Connect™ monitors the wear of the cushioning in the sole of the shoe and notifies users when it is time for a replacement. Baliston provides a prepaid return shipping label for consumers to send their old shoes to their logistics center, where the materials are being recycled. Baliston+ members receive a fresh pair and customized insole at no extra cost when cushioning wears below 50 percent.
This model empowers you to take movement into your own hands (or feet) because the more you move, the closer you get to a brand-new pair of shoes. Value meets walking wellness. Along with emboldening you on your own walking health journey, Baliston+ is a membership for an active lifestyle while helping the environment. Additionally, Baliston ensures that its shoes are used to their maximum potential and recycles their materials for new shoes and other productive goods, maintaining a truly circular product with minimal loss of productive value.
Why Consumers Choose Subscriptions
The Baliston+ membership seamlessly ties user experience to environmental consciousness, but subscription models, in general, also offer customers a leg up over other purchasing methods. People are increasingly choosing Membership services over retail, and it’s not hard to see why. Subscriptions are revolutionizing the way we consume. Services like FabFitFun, HelloFresh®, and BREO BOX make our lives more manageable than ever, and many shoppers have shifted to subscription-based lifestyles. But what has changed in world markets to make subscription services so popular?
For many consumers, it comes down to cost and convenience. Subscription services often offer built-in deals or cost-saving mechanisms that benefit the customer. For example, it is usually cheaper to buy a monthly plan on Spotify than buying individual songs or albums, which was more common a decade ago. With annual or monthly plans, you get what you need, when you need it, delivered to you even when it’s not top of mind.
Another reason customers love subscription services? Personalization. Not only are subscription models usually cheaper and more convenient than alternatives; they’re often more attuned to customers’ specific needs.
Baliston realized that subscription models don’t just minimize the time and money you spend on choosing a product; they also reduce waste. Subscription services provide you with the right amount of product when you need it most, so you’ll never feel the guilt of overconsumption. This is why subscription models are beginning to create a
Shoes For Life
Sustainability shouldn’t just be a buzzword.
As a producer, Baliston can provide low costs, personalization, and convenience while also combating waste and pollution.
Read more about Baliston’s mission