Woo-Lace™

Reducing our footprint, one shoelace at a time.

The Challenge

Over 200 million shoes end up in landfill each year (Tearfund NZ / Footwear: An Industry Laced with Exploitation, n.d.). Many of these shoes will have laces, often made from polyester, derived from fossil fuels – some of these shoes will have used multiple laces over the course of their lifecycle.

The Solution

Often overlooked in the design stage, laces can change the aesthetic and feel of the shoe wearing experience. The Woo-Lace^TM redefines how we look at shoelaces, highlighting sustainability, durability, quality, and aesthetics in a staple component of footwear.

Crafted using New Zealand Strong Wool, which is naturally durable, odour resistant, and biodegradable in a domestic environment. Unlike the smooth finish of synthetic laces, wool’s scaly fibres create a lace that binds together and reducing how often the laces become untied.

Sustainably produced using local materials, the Woo-Lace^TM are naturally dyed using produce such as onion skins, coffee grounds and avocado skins; items that are often considered waste. The natural dyeing process means no two laces are the same, celebrating the beauty of imperfections and the diversity of nature. Experimentation with aglets has moved through phases of natural fibre binding, metal that can be removed and recycled through to a bio plastic to create a completely biodegradable shoelace.

The Investment

The development and early-stage commercialisation of Woo-Lace^TM has been supported by funding from AUT Ventures and KiwiNet. Woo-Lace^TM is launched under the Steaddi brand and will be available for purchase in late-2024.