Sustainability isn’t a trendy marketing buzzword at Lems. It’s a part of who we are as a company. That means sustainability is a priority among our leadership, our operations, and our products. From environmental consciousness and materials selection to nonprofit collaboration and more, we’re leading the way in blending sustainability with healthy footwear in everything we do. When you wear our minimalist shoes, you’re helping create a more sustainable world—both now and in the future.
Why Sustainability?
Our well-being—and even our ability to survive as humans—depends upon sustainability. It’s about healthy coexistence with our natural world in a way that sustains our present and future generations.
And because we love the outdoors at Lems, it only makes sense that we’d care about stewarding it well, too. Our minimalist shoes are meant to be used for all kinds of outdoor adventures, after all. We want to sustain the very nature that allows our customers (and us!) to move through the world with greater awareness and intention. So here are a few specific ways we’re prioritizing sustainability at Lems:
Eco-Friendly Materials
When it comes to shoes, accessories, and more, all our products at Lems are carefully crafted with intentionality, including the materials we utilize. That means we choose incorporate eco-friendly materials into our products as much as possible, including:
Vegan Materials
We believe zero-drop minimalist shoes should be kind to your feet and kind to our planet, too. This looks like using vegan materials whenever we can. That means the makings of a shoe don’t contain any animal-derived materials such as wool, suede, or leather.
Though our shoe models are not 100% vegan, we do carry five shoe styles that are made of fully vegan materials. And we’re consciously planning to expand our lineup of fully vegan styles in the future.
Recycled Materials
In our efforts to support sustainable shoe production, we intentionally utilize recycled materials as much as we can in the manufacturing of our shoes at Lems. Not only does this give old materials new life, using recycled products also combats the creation of new materials and reduces waste.
Of all our shoe models, our Primal Eco is our gold standard of sustainability. Not only is it one of our fully vegan styles, the Primal Eco is made with up to 50% recycled materials in the shoe’s upper design. If you’re looking for minimalist natural-shape shoes that maximize environmental sustainability, the Primal Eco is your eco-conscious choice.
Green Online Returns
In today’s ecommerce world, online returns happen. And when they do, they collectively cause millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. On top of this, countless online returns can create excess packaging waste, which often ends up polluting the environment in landfills. That’s why we’re bucking the trend at Lems in our collaboration with Happy Returns.
A more eco-friendly alternative to sending shoe returns back in the mail, Happy Returns offers 5,000 convenient return drop-off locations across the country. These returns are accepted box-free, cutting down on cardboard and plastic waste. Aggregating regional returns in reusable totes, Happy Returns also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. If you ever need to make a return at Lems, you can have peace of mind knowing returns are processed sustainably.
Nonprofit Partnerships
In addition to doing our part, we also come alongside nonprofit organizations focused on preserving and protecting our planet as well. Our nonprofit partnerships at Lems include:
The Conservation Alliance
Our newest partnership, The Conservation Alliance has a longstanding mission to protect natural places and outdoor spaces. As a business coalition for conservation, The Conservation Alliance unites hundreds of businesses across multiple industries with the goal of protecting our lands and waters for future generations.
Through corporate advocacy and funding for grassroots initiatives, the organization builds bridges and invests in measurable conservation outcomes so that nature, people, and wildlife thrive together. At Lems, we’re proud to financially support The Conservation Alliance and plan to participate in its community initiatives in the future as well.
Soles4Souls
Soles4Souls diverts new and used shoes and clothing from landfills to improve lives locally and globally. New shoes are donated to children experiencing homelessness, as well as to people facing various hardships. At the same time, Soles4Souls equips entrepreneurs in low-income countries with donated shoes and clothing to sell, driving community growth and lifting families out of poverty.
By repairing, repurposing, and recycling shoes and clothing, Soles4Souls promotes sustainability by reducing excess waste and giving donated items a second life. We’re grateful to partner with Soles4Souls by donating our unused shoes, and we encourage our Lems community to do the same. By doing so, we can all give to those in need and care for our environment in the process.
Just Getting Started: Sustainability and Healthy Footwear
While we’ve made progress in our sustainability efforts at Lems, we’re just getting started. Our long-term goal is to become a fully sustainable company, and your choice to wear our shoes helps us further that goal. After all, we believe healthy footwear not only promotes healthy feet, but a healthy world, too. Shop our online store now or find a retailer near you.