Norm

The pro­duc­ti­on of the Norm tra­iners takes pla­ce enti­rely in Euro­pe, among others in Por­tu­gal, Italy, Fran­ce and Hun­gary. Beca­use they are all loca­ted in Euro­pe, they also com­ply with the labo­ur regu­la­ti­ons and laws that have been esta­bli­shed by the Euro­pe­an Uni­on. So we can assu­me that the tra­iners are made in ethi­cal con­di­ti­ons.

The tra­iners con­sist of 90% recy­cled mate­ri­als, the texti­le parts are 100% made of recy­cled polyes­ter from 6 recy­cled PET bot­tles per shoe. The soles are 70% recy­cled rub­ber and 30% fair­tra­de rub­ber. On the web­si­te, you can also read the CO2 emi­ssi­ons per shoe. This is abo­ut the mate­ri­als, but also abo­ut tran­s­port, pro­duc­ti­on, pac­ka­ging and even the use of the shoe. 

Norm is a mem­ber of Texti­le Exc­han­ge, with which they cal­cu­la­te the impact of the­ir sho­es. The impact of each pair of Norm tra­iners is 6,5 kg CO2eq, which is on ave­ra­ge 80% lower than any other brand. Per pair of tra­iners that Norm sel­ls, they plant two tre­es, which absorb on ave­ra­ge 100 kg CO2eq per tree during the­ir life. This shows that Norm is not even CO2-neutral, but CO2-negative!

Even the pac­ka­ging is made from recy­cled mate­ri­als. For exam­ple, the car­d­bo­ard boxes are recy­cled accor­ding to the stan­dar­ds of the Ger­man RESY cer­ti­fi­ca­te and FSC cer­ti­fi­ed (raw mate­ri­als from sus­ta­ina­ble fores­try). Also, the car­ri­er bag that Norm sel­ls is made of 100% recy­cled polyester.

The manu­fac­tu­rers that Norm wor­ks with are also cer­ti­fi­ed with the ISO 14001 quality stan­dard for envi­ron­men­tal mana­ge­ment (such as pro­per hand­ling of was­te water) and the Glo­bal Recy­cle Stan­dard (GRS), to ensu­re that the polyes­ter is actu­al­ly made from recy­cled PET bottles. 

The fact that the shoe is made almost enti­rely of recy­cled mate­ri­als is advan­ta­ge­ous in ter­ms of cir­cu­la­rity. The use of water-based glue also makes the tra­iners more recy­cla­ble afterwar­ds, beca­use the dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als can be sepa­ra­ted from each other.

In addi­ti­on, the­re is lit­tle was­te during pro­duc­ti­on beca­use the sho­es are 3D-knit­ted into the requ­ired sha­pe and size.

Besi­des that Norm also has its own Cir­cle-prin­ci­ple, whe­re you get a dis­co­unt on your pur­c­ha­se when you send back your old Norm tra­iners. This way they make sure that the mate­ri­als from the tra­iners are effec­ti­vely recy­cled into new sho­es afterwar­ds.

Norm is also a laure­ate of the Bru­ssels be cir­cu­lar 2020 pro­ject. This is a pro­ject that enco­ura­ges and sup­ports cir­cu­lar enter­pri­ses in the Bru­ssels Capi­tal Region.

Nor­m’s enti­re sup­ply cha­in is map­ped on the­ir web­si­te. All manu­fac­tu­rers and mate­ri­als are sour­ced from Euro­pe (Italy, Roma­nia, Fran­ce, and Por­tu­gal), ensu­ring that your pro­duct does not have to tra­vel a long way befo­re you buy it in the shop.

Nor­m’s sho­es are ani­mal fri­end­ly, beca­use they are com­ple­tely vegan! As pro­of of this, the brand is cer­ti­fi­ed by PETA (People for the Ethi­cal Tre­at­ment of Animals).

The tra­iners are made with an eye for quality, the design is modern and time­less so you can enjoy them for lon­ger. At the moment the Norm col­lec­ti­on con­sis­ts of one design, that is ava­ila­ble in dif­fe­rent colo­ur vari­ati­ons. This way the tra­iner is also gen­der neutral, by which Norm con­tri­bu­tes to more inclu­si­ve­ness in soci­ety. This way everyo­ne can wear the sho­es with pleasure.

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy gets a lot of atten­ti­on at Norm. For each part of the tra­iner, it is men­ti­oned which mate­ri­als have been used and whe­re each part was made. All manu­fac­tu­rers are lis­ted with infor­ma­ti­on abo­ut the com­pany, the CO2 emi­ssi­ons and possi­ble cer­ti­fi­ca­tes. You can also find an over­vi­ew of the enti­re sup­ply cha­in on the website. 

The cost struc­tu­re of Norm can also be found on the­ir web­si­te. With this they push the­ir tran­s­pa­ren­cy a bit fur­t­her, with which you can see how the pri­ce of the sho­es is com­po­sed. Just like a full CO2 emi­ssi­on analysis per shoe.