EcoLocalizer

Editor’s note: On Monday, we published the first part of Travis Brown’s “Green Footing” series on sustainablog. As part II (or “deux”) focuses on “green footing” in Lawrence, KS, it seemed fitting for Ecolocalizer. Travis is a student in Professor Simran Sethi’s Media and the Environment course at the University of Kansas, and originally published this post to the course blog on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

On Monday, I took a broad look at America’s shoe problem.

Now I’d like to take things down a notch and look at the shoe bid’ness on the local level.

Arensberg’s Shoes has been operating in Lawrence since 1956. The family-owned store sells about 8,000 shoes a year.

I worked as a sales associate at Arensberg’s for 11 months. I have the utmost respect for the store and the management. They are the only shoe store that I have ever been to where the employees genuinely care about the health, comfort and satisfaction of their customers. However, I think the business could make simple changes that would significantly alter their environmental impact.

• » See also: Where to Find Miraculous Moringa in the U.S.
• » Get EcoLocalizer by RSS or sign up by email.

Reduce

Almost all purchases are placed in yellow plastic bags. In the olden days, the sales associates at Arensberg’s used to tie boxes with string so that the customer could simply carry the boxes out holding the string. A spool still sits on the front desk in case their is a shortage of bags, but it is rarely used.

Towards the end of my shoe selling career, I started asking customers if they would prefer their boxes tied. To my surprise, many opted out of using a plastic bag. They were fascinated by this archaic technique and appreciated the extra effort.

If employees began asking customers if they would prefer a bag or a tie, I think the store would use far fewer bags - helping the environment and their expenses.

Resole

I was baffeled by the amount of people who asked me to throw away perfectly good shoes. They would come in to buy new shoes because their sole had worn down, or worse - because a lace had snapped in two. Lordy Mae!

I think the Arensberg’s, as well as all Lawrence shoe stores, should put a highly visible sign at the front desk that advertises BKB leather (a local shoe repair shop) and be more open to letting people know that they can easily and inexpensively repair most worn down shoes.

Recycle

Each pair of shoes are shipped to Arensberg’s in large cardboard boxes. Each individual shoe box is filled with oodles of packaging and mutltiple wads of paper are stuffed into each shoe to maintain the shape. There’s also usually a cardboard divider between the two shoes and tissue paper wrapped around each shoe. Almost all of this packaging will be taken out of the box and thrown away

This store could greatly lower their impact by recycling the packaging that comes from each opened shoe box.

Revamp

I must give kudos to Arensberg’s for selling Timberland and Simple brand shoes - two companies that are use eco-friendly and recycled materials, and are working to change the sustainability of the shoe industry.

I think they could expand their eco-friendly shoe selection and make a special section of the store dedicated to lower impact shoes. In addition to providing customers with the option of going green, it would also raise awareness about the environmental impact of the shoe industry and what to look for when trying to avoid shoes with a large carbon footprint.

P.S. Here’s a fun tip: The inside of a banana peal is a great non-toxic alternative to shoe polish.

Tweet This Post

You might also like: