Baabuk

Baabuk renewed its B‑Corp certification in 2021, with a score of 89.6 (10% higher than the 80.1 in 2017). This ensures sustainability in their social and environmental performance, as well as how the company operates and how their business model impacts their workers, community, environment and customers. Baabuk also only works with REACH certified colour dyes, which ensures safety of the people handling the dying process and that of the consumer. At the end of the process, each shoe is unique and traceable to the one person who created it. 

An example of their social and governmental sustainability is their work with their factory in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was chosen for multiple reasons such as utilizing the locals’ felting know-how, as well as the chance to make a positive socio-economic impact on the country, especially after the earthquake that disrupted the life and economy in 2022. They do so by providing good working conditions such as 25% higher salary than the national average, and employing more women in a country where men have more job opportunities. They also guarantee that no children work at their factory.

Additionally, their main facility located in Switzerland partners with the BVA Foundation, which employs people with mental and physical disabilities. These employees engage in work from quality control to product packaging and logistics, matched to their skill levels and occupational wishes. These roles give the workers a sense of accomplishment and belonging that empowers them.

They also source their wool from the historic Burel Factory, which contributes to preserving their long-standing local wool making tradition, and being close to the source of the wool keeps jobs local and production on a human scale. This also allows them to have transparency that goes beyond tracing the products to a location, but also to the people.

They however, do not mention details of their sourcing factory in New Zealand, which makes it impossible to verify working conditions at that location. 

After Baabuk’s community score went down after the B‑Corp renewal, they realized that they needed to engage in more giving programmes in 2020 and did by donating and participating in many such charities that give back to the community. 

Despite having employees on 3 continents, Baabuk prides itself on their control over the entire manufacturing and distribution process.

This brand works exclusively with 100% sheep wool, a material that is long-lasting, recyclable, and renewable. Sheep, due to their relative self-sufficiency, can be found almost anywhere on earth, and are required to be sheared on a regular basis, ensuring that the wool is a sustainable material source, in addition to their biodegradability.

The wool Baabuk works with for their slippers and boots are sourced from New Zealand, where mulesing and other unethical treatment of sheep is banned, and farmers’ water and soap washing processes are said to be environmentally friendly as the water is recycled, so it doesn’t pollute local rivers. However, as they don’t mention the name of the supplier in New Zealand, or any related certifications, this information is unverifiable. For their sneakers, Baabuk sources mulesing free merino wool called Burel from Portugal’s Serra de Estrela Natural Park, the largest protected area in the country. This is also located close to their ateliers, which reduces the CO2 emissions from the travel.

They do not mention the sourcing of the rubber soles of the shoes or elastic laces. However, they released a line where they upcycled ski skins to use for their soles, and some other products include latex blend soles which are said to be foot- and earth-friendly, however these claims are not supported by specifics. They also use leather in some of their shoes, details of which are not given. 

All of Baabuk’s products upper parts are monomaterial wool, which makes them easy to recycle at the end of use. Their line of products using recycled ski skins also contributes to their circularity, and they encourage circularity by the consumers by offering an incentivized recycling program, where they take back used shoes and provide a rebate code for the next pair. They then decide what to do with the preloved shoes, such as pass them on to other partners or charities to be reloved by someone else, or to be recycled. They are partners with I:CO by SOEX, who have developed a shoe recycling plant that extracts individual materials from old shoes to be reused as secondary raw materials in a wide range of industries. 

The brand is located in Switzerland, sourcing from New Zealand and Portugal, and production is done in Kathmandu, Nepal. The wool sourced from the national park in Portugal is located in vicinity to their ateliers there, so as to reduce travel CO2 emissions, and to keep the production local. However, they do not mention their method of transportation, considering their intercontinental presence, it is assumable this will be by plane or boat. 

Baabuk works with 100% sheep wool, and they specify that their wool sourced from Portugal is mulesing free. Nothing is specified regarding their wool sourced from New Zealand, however ethical treatment of those sheep can be assumed if all of their other actions are anything to go off on. 

In 2020, they also launched an initiative with Swiss Foundation ProSpecieRara, called the Miss Baabuka initiative, which works to protect 6 endangered species of sheep native to Switzerland. They raised 8,500 CHF to support this program over the course of a four-day campaign. 

Baabuk uses 100% wool which is known to be a durable fibre, processed in a way that makes the fabric strong yet fluffy, and increases the lifespan even more. In case this still doesn’t ensure longevity, they also provide a 365-day warranty with all their products. The wool, made in a traditional fashion with a rustic and authentic look, also has air pockets that trap air, making them comfortable to use in the summer as well as winter. Their hydrophobic and antimicrobial nature also makes them good to use through rain and heavy perspiration, without getting them stinky. 

Additionally, the brand also sells repair kits that come with heat transfer patches to fix all manner of scuffs, holes, or cuts by simply using a household iron. This, with their replacement insoles, keep the sneakers in use for much longer, which benefits the planet as well as the consumer’s pocket.

Baabuk provides a lot of transparency compared to many other sustainable or unsustainable brands, such as the specific name of one of their facilities (out of 3), which is more than what is found on most brand’s websites. They claim to have transparency that goes beyond tracing the products to a location, but also the people, however this needs to be accessible to consumers as well rather than just internally. They also do not mention the details about the sourcing facility and factory in New Zealand and Nepal respectively, which makes it difficult to verify the sustainability and working conditions of these facilities. 

They are very transparent about their progress in sustainability, especially in relation to their B‑Corp score, even mentioning their negative growth in certain aspects such as their reduced community score. 

Not only that, but they also state many details on their product description pages such as the location of the wool sources, as well as other materials used in the product.