Aqte2

All of AQTE2’s pro­duc­tion takes place in Euro­pe. Design is done in France and pro­duc­tion takes place in Por­tu­gal. In Euro­pe, manu­fac­tu­r­ers must com­ply with the Euro­pean Union’s labour rules and laws as well as the rele­vant natio­nal laws. As a result, we can assu­me that the pro­ducts are made in ethi­cal working con­di­ti­ons. AQTE2’s manu­fac­tu­rer also holds the OHS­AS 18001 cer­ti­fi­ca­te which gua­ran­tees that working con­di­ti­ons, safe­ty and health of employees are good. 

Ano­ther nice thing about AQTE2 is that their trai­ners are gen­der neu­tral, mea­ning they’re con­tri­bu­ting to a more inclu­si­ve socie­ty and that ever­yo­ne can enjoy wea­ring their shoes.

AQTE2 prio­ri­ti­ses sus­tainable mate­ri­als. The sole is made of recy­cled rub­ber, the laces are part­ly made of orga­nic cot­ton and part­ly of recy­cled PET bot­t­les. Final­ly, the upper bit of the shoe is made of 50% recy­cled poly­es­ter and 50% recy­cled PET bot­t­les. 8 PET bot­t­les are given a new life through each shoe. 

For every pair of shoes sold, AQTE2 plants a tree, to com­pen­sa­te for the envi­ron­men­tal impact of their production.

AQTE2’s shoes are main­ly made from recy­cled mate­ri­als. Eight PET bot­t­les are recy­cled for each trai­ner and recy­cled rub­ber is also used for the sole. This makes the trai­ner more cir­cu­lar. By using orga­nic cot­ton, AQTE2 also ensu­res the­re are no harmful sub­s­tances in their shoes.

Howe­ver, com­bi­ning the dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als (e.g. the glue used for the sole) redu­ces their cir­cu­la­ri­ty. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, the­re is no other way yet of assembling trainers. 

AQTE2’s chain is short as it is enti­re­ly loca­ted in Euro­pe. This ensu­res your shoes will not tra­vel long distances. The num­ber of inter­me­dia­ries in the sup­p­ly chain is also limi­t­ed: desig­ning is done in France, pro­duc­tion takes place in Por­tu­gal and all mate­ri­als are sourced in Europe.

AQTE2 uses sus­tainable, but also very high-qua­li­ty mate­ri­als. Their shoes are breat­ha­ble, ther­mo­re­gu­la­ting and odour-fight­ing. The soles are atta­ched using both glue and stit­ching, to pro­vi­de extra strength and quality.

The shoes always fea­ture an off-white base with a honey-colou­red sole, with addi­tio­nal fea­tures in a varie­ty of colours. This simp­le and gen­der neu­tral design makes the shoes, which are urban with a vin­ta­ge touch, timeless.

AQTE2 is trans­pa­rent about the mate­ri­als used in their shoes. On the web­site, you will find a lot of infor­ma­ti­on about what the shoe is made of and how the com­pa­ny its­elf ope­ra­tes. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, the­re is litt­le infor­ma­ti­on about the manu­fac­tu­r­ers AQTE2 works with.