Primal Soles

Pro­duc­ti­on locations

• Por­tu­gal

Pri­mal Soles craf­ts its footwe­ar exclu­si­vely in the nor­th of Por­tu­gal, leve­ra­ging the regi­on’s deep-rooted exper­ti­se in shoe manufacturing. 

Wor­king Con­di­ti­ons & living wages

The enti­re pro­duc­ti­on cycle—from sour­cing and han­d­craf­ting to recy­cling — is local­ly based, adhe­ring to strict EU regu­la­ti­ons, ensu­ring that all pro­ce­sses are ethi­cal and con­tri­bu­te posi­ti­vely to the local eco­nomy. The bran­d’s com­mit­ment to regi­onal craf­t­sman­ship and ethi­cal prac­ti­ces in Por­tu­gal stan­ds out, emp­ha­si­zing a com­mu­nity-focu­sed appro­ach to con­s­ci­ous footwe­ar production.

Mate­ri­als 

• Cork
• Recy­cled cork
• Upcy­cled anti-bac­te­ri­al memory foam
• Recy­cled foam

Pac­ka­ging

The brand also employs FSC-cer­ti­fi­ed (veri­fi­ed by COSH!) car­d­bo­ard boxes for pac­ka­ging, emp­ha­si­zing the­ir com­mit­ment to sus­ta­ina­ble practices. 

Water usa­ge & chemicals

The­ir pro­duc­ts are cer­ti­fi­ed to have CO2-nega­ti­ve impact (veri­fi­ed by COSH!), by Car­bon Foot­print and Life Cycle Asse­s­sment stu­di­es. Pri­mal Soles also con­duc­ts other posi­ti­ve envi­ron­men­tal prac­ti­ces, such as par­ti­ci­pa­ting in 1% for the Pla­net, whe­re 1% of all the­ir pro­fits are dona­ted to envi­ron­men­tal causes. They have also com­mit­ted to refo­res­ting 1,000 hec­ta­res of Por­tu­gu­ese cork oak forest to bol­s­ter biodi­ver­sity and com­bat forest decline.

Cir­cu­lar pro­duct design 

The brand embra­ces a cir­cu­lar appro­ach with the­ir footwe­ar desig­ned to be 100% recy­cla­ble under EU regu­la­ti­ons. Pri­mal Soles’ footwe­ar incor­po­ra­tes a three-layer design with natu­ral cork, upcy­cled anti-bac­te­ri­al memory foam, and recy­cled cork and foam, ensu­ring an eco-con­s­ci­ous and fun­c­ti­onal pro­duct. Cork, used exten­si­vely, is a rege­ne­ra­ti­ve mate­ri­al har­ves­ted wit­ho­ut har­ming the cork oak, con­tri­bu­ting posi­ti­vely to eco­lo­gi­cal balan­ce, cli­ma­te resi­li­en­ce, and biodiversity.

Win­ning an award for the most inno­va­ti­ve pro­duct of the year, they’re now explo­ring B2B part­ner­ships and sca­ling up with new mate­ri­als like cork-rub­ber mixtu­res, all the whi­le ensu­ring that pro­duc­ts rema­in CO2 nega­ti­ve and cir­cu­lar. 

Cir­cu­lar busi­ness models

They have esta­bli­shed a recy­cling por­tal allowing cus­to­mers to return used inso­les, ensu­ring they are upcy­cled into new pro­duc­ts. Whi­le the hotel slip­pers are sin­gle-use, the­ir sys­tem enco­ura­ges hotels to par­ti­ci­pa­te in sus­ta­ina­ble prac­ti­ces by retur­ning used slip­pers for upcy­cling, cre­ating a col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve cir­cu­lar model. This clo­sed-loop sys­tem is con­duc­ted by the­ir pro­duc­ti­on fac­tory in Por­tu­gal, whe­re they grind used soles to cre­ate new ones, mini­mi­zing waste. 

Dis­tan­ce & com­plexity of the sup­ply chain

• Head offi­ce: Amsterdam
• Pro­duc­ti­on: Portugal
• Sour­cing raw mate­ri­als: Portugal
• Final sta­ges: Portugal
• Export: wor­l­dwi­de

Pri­mal Soles ope­ra­tes its head offi­ce in Ams­ter­dam, but all aspec­ts of the­ir pro­duc­ti­on, from sour­cing raw mate­ri­als to final sta­ges, are con­cen­tra­ted in Por­tu­gal. This cen­tra­li­za­ti­on stre­amli­nes the­ir sup­ply cha­in, redu­cing the tran­s­por­ta­ti­on foot­print. This setup hig­hlig­h­ts the­ir com­mit­ment to main­ta­ining a short and effi­ci­ent sup­ply chain.

Tran­s­por­ta­ti­on

E‑commerce: 

• Car­bon-neutral ship­ping on all orders. The com­pany does this by cal­cu­la­ting every delivery’s car­bon foot­print based on weig­ht, ship­ping met­hod, and dis­tan­ce tra­vel­led. They neutra­li­se the­se emi­ssi­ons by pur­c­ha­sing veri­fi­ed car­bon remo­val credits. 
• When cus­to­mers add a con­tri­bu­ti­on to the­ir order, 100% of that money is used to pay for addi­ti­onal car­bon remo­val.
• The brand wor­ks with a network of pione­ering remo­val com­pa­ni­es that have been vet­ted by the com­mer­ce plat­form Shopify.

The brand does not use any ani­mal deri­ved pro­duc­ts, and hen­ce can be con­si­de­red a ​“Vegan” brand.

Pro­duct design

Ins­pi­red by tra­vel, Pri­mal Soles is inno­va­ting wit­hin the footwe­ar indus­try, star­ting with inso­les, and recen­tly intro­du­cing hotel slip­pers to shift away from tra­di­ti­onal high-tur­no­ver models domi­na­ted by imports. 

Pri­mal Soles pro­vi­des pre­ci­se measu­re­ments and sizing ins­truc­ti­ons to aid con­su­mer cho­ices and redu­ce retur­ns, enhan­cing the quality and lon­ge­vity of the­ir products.

Slow fashi­on processes

The­ir sub­s­crip­ti­on model enco­ura­ges sus­ta­ina­ble con­sump­ti­on thro­ugh inso­le repla­ce­ments and recy­cling. 
 

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy on product

This brand makes high efforts to be tran­s­pa­rent with the con­su­mer regar­ding all the­ir mate­ri­als and processes. 

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy on processes

Pri­mal Soles emp­ha­si­zes its com­mit­ment to tran­s­pa­ren­cy by ensu­ring com­pli­an­ce with inter­na­ti­onal envi­ron­men­tal stan­dar­ds, publi­shing all cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­ons and deta­ils on the­ir web­si­te. Whi­le some deta­ils still need to be veri­fi­ed, the­se acti­ons demons­tra­te the­ir dedi­ca­ti­on to res­pon­si­ble envi­ron­men­tal prac­ti­ces and the­ir effort to cle­ar­ly com­mu­ni­ca­te this com­mit­ment to avo­id greenwashing.