Grand Step Shoes

Grand Step stands for fair working con­di­ti­ons, mutu­al app­re­cia­ti­on and respectful interaction. 

95% of their pro­ducts are manu­fac­tu­red in Spain. This allows them to visit fac­to­ries fre­quent­ly, and to main­tain clo­se and direct part­ner­ships with local manu­fac­tu­r­ers. In this way, they can gua­ran­tee ethi­cal and fair working con­di­ti­ons for all employees invol­ved in the Grand Step Shoes pro­duc­tion process.

Their gro­wing con­cern for the envi­ron­ment moti­va­ted them to pur­sue a sus­tainable pro­cess throug­hout their enti­re pro­duc­tion chain and the intel­li­gent use of resour­ce-saving technologies.

They com­bi­ne natu­ral mate­ri­als such as orga­nic cot­ton, hemp, wool and natu­ral rub­ber with modern, recy­cled com­pon­ents such as vegan apple ​“lea­ther”.

Step by step, they work to redu­ce the bio­lo­gi­cal foot­print of their pro­ducts, thus redu­cing the impact of their products.

In addi­ti­on, the cot­ton they use is GOTS (Glo­bal Orga­nic Tex­ti­le Stan­dard) cer­ti­fied, which means that they have under­go­ne a rigo­rous con­trol pro­cess to ensu­re that they meet man­da­to­ry eco­lo­gi­cal and social requirements. 

Grand Steps manu­fac­tures its foot­wear from sus­tainable, recy­cled and/​or biode­gra­da­ble mate­ri­als, but most are made from a mix of dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als, making it dif­fi­cult to recy­cle the pro­ducts after use.

Howe­ver, Grand Step is con­scious­ly desig­ning, sel­ec­ting natu­ral, low-impact mate­ri­als and adap­ting pro­duc­tion pro­ces­ses with its part­ners in order to achie­ve zero was­te during manu­fac­tu­ring and increase the biode­gra­da­bili­ty of the shoe at the end of its useful life. Examp­les of this are the manu­fac­tu­re of shoes by the vul­ca­nis­ed method with natu­ral rub­ber wit­hout adhe­si­ves, the use of vege­ta­ble lea­thers biode­gra­da­ble in 30 days, the use of soles and tech­ni­cal fabrics with a high per­cen­ta­ge of mate­ri­als from rene­wa­ble vege­ta­ble sources.

95% of its pro­ducts are manu­fac­tu­red in Euro­pe. Most of the fac­to­ries and sup­pli­ers they work with are loca­ted in Spain.

The finis­hed pro­ducts are then ship­ped to their warehouse in Ger­ma­ny, whe­re they mana­ge all deli­veries to shops or end cus­to­mers. This signi­fi­cant­ly redu­ces the car­bon foot­print of each delivery.

In addi­ti­on, one of their goals is to redu­ce CO2 emis­si­ons, for exam­p­le, by choo­sing short deli­very rou­tes or pre­fer­a­b­ly using resour­ce-saving means of trans­port from the pro­duc­tion sites to the shops or the end customer.

Alt­hough a lar­ge part of their pro­ducts are made from natu­ral and/​or recy­cled mate­ri­als of non-ani­mal ori­gin, Grand Step is not a vegan brand, as they use mate­ri­als such as wool and lea­ther in some of their coll­ec­tions.

Howe­ver, they are awa­re that the lea­ther indus­try is a very pol­lu­ting indus­try, and that the usu­al che­mi­cal tan­ning pro­cess con­ta­ins syn­the­tic com­pounds that are harmful to the envi­ron­ment, as well as to peo­p­le and ani­mals. For this reason, all their leathers come from Euro­pean dea­lers. They car­ry out the tan­ning pro­cess in an envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly way, wit­hout resi­dues or toxic che­mi­cals and using vege­ta­ble agents such as oak, fir or quebracha.

On the other hand, they use mule­sing free and GOTS cer­ti­fied vir­gin wool, also of Euro­pean ori­gin. Most of the wool used is recy­cled and comes from Ger­ma­ny, from lef­to­ver orga­nic baby clothes.

Their pas­si­on for con­tem­po­ra­ry design and high qua­li­ty craft­sman­ship make Grand Step Shoes a uni­que, dura­ble and sus­tainable pro­duct.

Con­scious­ly desi­gned and ethi­cal­ly manu­fac­tu­red with qua­li­ty mate­ri­als, Grand Step shoes will last a long time in your wardrobe!

Grand Step Shoes is a trans­pa­rent brand!

COSH! has been able to talk to the Grand Step team and they have pro­vi­ded us with detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on about their pro­duc­tion pro­cess and the mate­ri­als they use.

Also, if you want to know more about their pro­duc­tion pro­cess, on their web­site they have a video whe­re they show how they make their shoes.