Living the Hey Dude lifestyle means exploring each day with an insatiable appetite for adventure. Created in 2008 from our obsession for quality and passion for new experiences, our shoes are built to take you anywhere. Each new style is so much more than just an awesome shoe, but also a promise to give back to our communities and environment. Enjoying all that nature has to offer is essential in keeping a healthy mind, so it’s Hey Dude’s commitment to continue finding ways to create products, programs, and partnerships to support these efforts.
With creating real environmental change at the forefront of many of our projects and products, we’ve looked at all aspects of the business as opportunities to make a small improvement. Over the last year, the company looked at how much cardboard and plastic was being used in our shipping and display materials as an opportunity to get better. We’ve since provided our retail partners with shoe hangers that are made of mostly cornstarch, rather than the traditional plastic hangers used over the years in your favorite stores. In addition to changing our hangers, there has been a switch to the packaging of most of the shoes sold on our online store to a cornstarch material making them 100% biodegradable. These two major efforts will significantly reduce the long-term waste created when providing our amazing products to stores and customers all around the country.
The obvious next step for Hey Dude was to look at the actual products we create to see if there are other materials and programs that would support this commitment to nature. At the core of our product development, it is essential to create products for men, women, and children that serve as everyday comfort shoes for all occasions. Combining this vision with our dedication to using more sustainable materials is and will always be a challenge, but we found many innovative ways to merge the two together. Through these exhaustive efforts to find unique materials and techniques, we’ve been able to create shoes out of recycled leather scraps that would otherwise have been thrown away. Also, we designed a limited-edition shoe made from actual recycled wood fibers to promote the use of repurposing existing wood when possible instead of newly harvested lumber. Lastly, Hey Dude created a collection of shoes that were manufactured from actual plastic waste recovered from the ocean, with the idea of raising awareness for the cleaning of all our waterways around the world.
In February of 2019, Hey Dude launched an Eco-Knit Collection comprised of shoes constructed from recovered plastic trash from our oceans. It was important to find a way to not only educate people on issues affecting people and the environment, but also take real action. The eco-friendly shoes were designed using our signature Wally and Wendy silhouettes and constructed from collected plastic from the ocean that is melted down to create a material known as polyethylene terephthalate (aka PET fibers). These recycled PET fibers are strong and lightweight allowing us to provide an environment changing product, while keeping our signature comfortable shoes.
In addition, we invested in 10,000 biodegradable cornstarch bags that were placed in every shoe order until we ran out. The purpose of providing the bags was to encourage our followers to use them to clean-up local areas in their community, negatively affected by trash. Even if we all don’t live near a beach, there are many other beautiful places in our surrounding areas that are also experiencing this issue like lakes, parks, and rivers. It is important we all make a conscious effort to not only clean up after ourselves when enjoying the great outdoors but take the lead in removing additional waste created by those who are less caring.
The use of PET based trash recovered from oceans and other waterways is not only great for our planet, but its versatility will allow Hey Dude shoes to continue to use the material for new shoe styles and products. In the coming months, we will relaunch our Eco-Knit collection with new Wally and Wendy designs using these PET fibers called the Halo. This next generation of the collection is an evolution of the original styles, with changes to make them even more comfortable and versatile. The Halo is just one of many new shoe styles that carry our eco-friendly message. Along with new shoes, we’ll be releasing even more products with similar fabrics that will complement our brand messaging.
Spending time out in the world and especially at your favorite park, lake, or mountain campground is important to so many people across this country. Whether you’re riding your bike with your kids, walking your favorite trail, or spending the day with good friends fishing at that special spot, it is our collective responsibility to keep these places as clean as possible. Hey Dude will continue to support these passions and with shoe styles for men, women and children, we have the right fit for everybody to enjoy these activities. Try on a pair of Hey Dude shoes and they will quickly become a natural part of your life, whether at work or play!
For more information visit www.heydudeshoesusa.com