Family company Van Bommel Moergestel has been making high-quality shoes for women and men for years. In 1997, the Dutch brand produced its first sustainable shoe. A pioneer, in other words! Customers, however, showed little interest, so production stopped after a year. Van Bommel kept the sustainable mindset and preserved the entire production process.
At Van Bommel, you’ll find high-quality shoes for every occasion and outfit!
Materials
Van Bommel uses high-quality cowhide from Italy. As a result, you will be able to wear your shoes for a long time.
The leather they use is sometimes chrome-tanned and sometimes vegetable-tanned. At COSH! we prefer vegetable-tanned leather, because no artificial chemicals are used in its production.
To protect the environment, Van Bommel only uses leather that meets the European Chrome-VI standard. This law ensures that employees are not exposed to hazardous substances in both the short and long term. The glue and paint are water-based and free of harmful chemicals. This is how Van Bommel contributes to protecting the environment.
Ethical
All of the materials used in Van Bommel women’s and men’s shoes come from Europe. Most of the shoes are made in their own factory in the Netherlands. Portugal and Spain are also listed as production countries for these beautiful timeless shoes.
The stitching for the shoe upper is done by a regular partner in India. The work in India amounts to only 5% of Van Bommel’s total production time. In order to guarantee fair working conditions, the suppliers at home and abroad sign a code of conduct.
In the Netherlands, Van Bommel takes extra care of its employees. All employees get pension insurance and have instructions to ensure their individual workspaces are ergonomic. In addition, they also benefit from the profits made. In a profitable year, every employee receives a profit share that can amount to 5% of their total gross annual salary.
Vegan
The beautiful shoes at Van Bommel are made from cow leather. More than 90% of leather in the fashion industry comes from scraps from the meat industry. Growing leather especially for shoes would be too expensive. This means no extra animals have been killed for your shoes.
Out of principle, Van Bommel only works with fake fur. Van Bommel shoes with crocodile or snake print are made out of processed cowhide. No endangered species at this Dutch shoe brand!
Circular economy
Van Bommel encourages customers to repair worn-out shoes. At the end of the 1980s, Van Bommel set up the “Stichting Schoenmakers Gilde” (a guild for shoemakers) in the Netherlands and the “Stichting Meesterschoenmakers” (a foundation for shoemakers) in Belgium. This has since been joined by several hundred independent shoemakers. The brand thus wants to restore craftsmanship, allowing shoes to last much longer.
They use recycled cardboard for their shoe boxes, inserts and padding in the shoe boxes. Van Bommel also tries to minimise transport and waste as little paper as possible.
Following a smart renovation project of their shoe factory in the Netherlands, which saw double glazing and insulation go in, their energy consumption has reduced by 20% on an annual basis.
