nat‑2

nat‑2™ is dedicated to fair labour practices, producing handcrafted footwear in two family-run facilities in Italy and Spain and sourcing raw materials near the production facilities. Most of their fabrics are self-engineered in collaboration with textile designers within Germany and Austria. Their commitment ensures skilled artisans receive fair wages and work in safe conditions, maintaining high standards across their operations.

nat‑2™ strives to offer new perspectives on environmental stewardship and materials, evident in every product they create. They utilise an extensive array of innovative, predominantly bio-based materials. Each shoe is an artistic creation incorporating never-before-seen materials like real hay, flower waste, and hemp agricultural waste alongside other eco-innovative materials like wood, stone, skeleton leaves and recycled coffee grounds. By exploring new material frontiers, the brand aims to portray the endless possibilities within a circular, upcycling perspective.

The brand goes further by integrating materials traditionally seen as waste, such as recycled Swarovski rhinestones, glass, bubble wrap, or refrigerator insulation material, and even unusual organics, like disposed milk, slaughterhouse blood, moss, and algae, into their footwear. This not only recycles materials that would otherwise end up in landfills but also offers new, scalable textile possibilities.

Moreover, nat‑2™‘s approach extends beyond the materials to include its entire operational ethos. It ensures that its European production facilities follow eco-friendlier practices, from energy usage to waste management, ensuring a minimal environmental impact. Various products, such as their rainboot variations or their LOVR hemp style, are fully biodegradable, while their leather is exclusively dyed with in-house developed vegetable tannins. The brand does feature a few shoe designs produced with synthetic materials such as latex paint or GRS recycled PET, which cannot be recycled.

While nat‑2™ embraces circular fashion principles, their extensive use of diverse materials presents notable challenges. The brand incorporates both recycled and recyclable materials in their designs, such as recycled cork and PET, the latter of which, although arguably beneficial in reducing initial environmental impact, complicates the recyclability of the final product. Recycled PET, for instance, is not infinitely recyclable and can degrade in quality over time, eventually becoming non-recyclable.

Moreover, the complexity of combining various natural and synthetic materials such as wood, stone, glass, and recycled coffee grounds in a single item can hinder recycling. Each material requires different recycling processes, and when combined, the separation necessary for proper recycling becomes labour-intensive and economically unfeasible. While innovative and visually appealing, this material diversity challenges the true ethos of circular fashion, which aims for continual reuse and minimal waste.

In their packaging, nat‑2™ adopts a more straightforward approach by using recycled and FSC-certified paper, which are easier to recycle and fit well within a circular model.

Manufacturing of nat‑2™ products takes place in small, family-operated facilities in Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria. These facilities are chosen for their craftsmanship expertise and compliance with strict labour laws. The brand has structured its supply chain locally, sourcing materials for production near the production facilities.

To ensure their high standards are met, nat‑2™ partners with several internationally recognised certification bodies. These include the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), OEKO-TEX®, BSCI, SA8000 and ISO9001, among others. These partnerships provide third-party verification that nat‑2™‘s products meet global benchmarks for both environmental care and worker welfare.

nat‑2™ features numerous 100% vegan styles where water-based glues are employed. Their leather designs use LWG Gold-certified, organic, vegetable-tanned, chromium-free leather.

The brand’s ethos revolves around timeless, seasonless, and mostly unisex collections, reducing the need for frequent purchases. nat‑2™ promotes durable and versatile designs that transcend seasonal trends, advocating for sustainable consumption patterns. The brand develops just five to six new designs per year to add to its premium collection while avoiding sales or promotions.

nat‑2™ prioritises transparency as a cornerstone of its brand ethos, recognising the importance of open communication in fostering consumer trust and driving the sustainable fashion movement forward. The brand takes significant steps to ensure that detailed information about the sourcing of materials and the specifics of its manufacturing processes is readily available to the public via its website.

By disclosing the origin and treatment of the innovative materials used in their footwear, such as organic cotton and unconventional materials like wood, moss, hay and stone, nat‑2™ allows consumers to understand the environmental impact of their purchases. This transparency extends to the production stages, where nat‑2™ explains how products are made in family-owned factories in Italy and the EU, which adhere to strict labour standards ensuring fair wages and safe working conditions.

Moreover, nat‑2™ leverages its partnerships with various certification bodies like FSC, GOTS, and OEKO-TEX to validate their sustainability and ethical production claims. The brand can fully trace its supply chain and has openly communicated its partnering facilities to COSH!.