“Do you really want to smoke our shoes?” ask the stars of the show this week, who are quick to point out, to confused would-be customers, that “hemp is the sober cousin of marijuana. It has no psychoactive components, which means that technically you are definitely not getting high”.
This sort of talk brings new meaning to the idea of ‘high heels’, but just to make absolutely sure: “smoking the shoe is not a good idea and might get you hospitalized,” say 8000Kicks, a brilliant Portuguese footwear and accessory brand, who are picking up (and running with, in their handsome trainers) last week’s themes of sustainability and ethics.
From my own point of view, I first became aware of the hugely versatile and massively maligned hemp or cannabis plant as Assistant Editor at Positive News, a newspaper published in the UK a few decades back that – funnily enough – published positive news. It was then, in the mid-1990s, with colleagues who were “focusing on the good in the world and reporting the positive changes taking place”, that I, as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fellow with world-changing aspirations, saw hemp’s great value, whilst realising too the immense prejudice it faced.
Putting aside the devil’s lettuce connotations of cannabis for a moment, and its paradoxical ability to relax on the one hand and fan the flames of drug policy controversy on the other, the hemp sub-species in question today is industrial, not what some might call recreational hemp.
As a raw material, and perhaps one of the most useful plants to ever bless humanity, its use dates back to 8000 BC, and was ubiquitous in manufacturing until as recently as Henry Ford was prototyping and building cars. Without it, it’s unlikely Portugal would be what it is today, given hemp’s vital role in the design and furnishing of sailing ships, including those quintessential components – sails and ropes.
Converts speak enthusiastically too of hemp’s numerous other qualities, including being anti-bacterial, needing no fertilizers and almost no water to grow, and that it cleans and restores the very soil it grows in. Strange then that in some countries it is illegal to cultivate hemp, but 100% legal to buy and sell the finished products like pharmaceuticals, soap, paper, and apparel like the stylish ‘clobber’ we are looking at today.
Apparently, “it was 5am and founder Bernardo Carreira was chilling with his friends in a garage”, a cracking start to any good commercial backstory. Legend has it that this group of pals was brainstorming new business ideas “when someone came up with the idea of making a smokable shoe”, as you do, when sleep deprived and blue-sky spitballing. What might have been a long-forgotten, late-night conversation resulted in a hemp-based sneaker, exactly because of the raw material’s strength, resistance and ecological properties, albeit as yet – and previously mentioned – un-inhalable!
And whilst the possibility of the smokable shoe remains pie in that blue sky, alongside a cure for the common cold and time travel, what has emerged has been nothing short of remarkable, and yet another example of innovation about which this nation can be truly proud. Bernardo decided to give the idea a shot having seen some bags and wallets made from cannabis fibres, and asked a most unlikely person for help – Otília, his grandmother, pictured.
With over 50 years’ experience in textiles, she stepped up to the plate, or rather her sewing machine, and together they spent over a year actively working with suppliers from around the world to create what is now the “world’s first waterproof hemp shoe”, which they proudly describe as a “whole new category in casual, sustainable footwear”.
8000Kicks shoes are made like any others that might use cotton, leather, or polyester, just with different fibres – those of the mighty and multipurpose hemp plant – just as Vasco da Gama or the ancient Egyptians may have used. Durable, breathable, comfortable, and now waterproof thanks to this company’s gilding of the hemp lily, you now have a splendid sustainable and ethical alternative at your fingertips, or rather toe-tips, when it comes to footwear, conceived and commercialised in Portugal.
Available online or from their store in Lisbon at the wonderful LX Factory, 8000Kicks have complemented their ground-breaking shoe range with hats, socks, wallets, backpacks and giggle-inducing ‘fanny packs’. Purveyors of these fine, fully recyclable and vegan products, these guys also place a high value on social responsibility, just like my new favourite winery, Casa Romana Vini, featured last week.
“In order to make this planet a better place, we took a 360º approach to define our own responsibility as a business,” they say. “This means empowering customers to opt-in for a more sustainable lifestyle by providing a superior eco-friendly footwear solution. It means looking to our own footprint but also our partners’, to minimize our carbon emissions.”
Their ethical credentials do not stop there however, with equal gender pay featuring in their corporate aspirations as well as a fierce commitment to optimal conditions for workers in the Chinese factories where some of their products are made. Fair salaries and benefits, whilst also working hard towards fair trade certification and decreasing dependency on non-renewable energy sources are part of the future-focused ‘footprint’ too.
“We are not perfect, and we have a lot to improve,” they admit, but I am seriously impressed by their pleasing combination of excellent products, fun approach, and deep concern for the environment and people. They are actively working to reduce CO2 in their supply chain and use recycled and ecologically sensitive materials for packaging.
“We will provide at least two paid days off every year for our employees to volunteer in whatever association they find worthy,” they add thoughtfully, whilst ensuring their Corporate Social Responsibility priorities are in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “We work every day with our partners to guarantee the best quality in our products: hemp quality, sustainability practices, guarantee of non-presence of toxic substances or dyes, and CO2 capture and water cleaning.”
Impressed coincidentally by this array of wholesomeness, my Good Morning Portugal! co-host James ‘An Old Guy in Europe’ Holley, told me: “I have made a commitment in my life to buy quality, sustainably sourced natural products, ethically made and fairly traded from local independent companies whenever possible. 8000Kicks has checked all the boxes and thrown in great customer service. I LOVE my shoes!”
And it just so happens that we have organised a 10% discount for you if you like what you are hearing about 8000Kicks, who are definitely putting their best foot forward in Portugal. You can do the same at www.goodmorningportugal.com
By Carl Munson
Carl Munson is host of the Good Morning Portugal! show every weekday on YouTube and creator of www.learnaboutportugal.com, where you can learn something new about Portugal every day!
