How are they made?
The M’89 Vegan Mango
SAYE is one of the leading sneaker companies in Europe to begin offering this incredible alternative to animal leather. And we are so pumped to know that our Vegan Mango Sneakers are providing the world with an innovative step in the right direction.
Why make vegan napa from fruit waste?
Let’s go through the data:
→ 45% of all fruit produced for consumption gets thrown away.
→ 30% of the earth’s agricultural land is used to produce food that eventually will be thrown away.
→ 40% of food harvested is left in the fields, because it does not meet the cosmetic standards for the supermarkets.
It's scary, isn't it? Fruit waste is a real thing, and around the world on a daily basis, fruit is thrown out or cast aside at an alarming rate. So, instead of rejecting the not so glamorous pieces, we wanted to support those companies that have changed their perspective and had begun seeing them as a valuable material instead.
How Is It Made?
STEP 1 - Making Mango Pulp
Discarded mangoes are collected weekly, each mango is cut and then put in a machine to de-stone and crush the fruit into a pulp. Once the pulp has been made, several additives are added that turn the mango pulp into a leather-like material.
STEP 2 - Flatten and Dehydrate
Once the pulp process is ready the mixture is then poured onto metal baking trays, smoothing it out to create an even consistency. The trays go into a dehydrator overnight.
STEP 3 - Protect and Heat
The trays of Mango are now ready to head to the leather-finishing facility to be coated in a protective glaze. The mango sheets are rolled into an oven with a 100°C heat that helps the coating dry, then hang on racks to cool and dry completely. This process is carried out multiple times to create a more durable product.
STEP 4 - Finishing Touches
The final step along the process is to add the mango-napa sheets into a machine that applies heat and pressure to combine the layers of coating, to ready the material for the design process. An embossing machine is used that enables the leather to look and feel like animal skin.
THE MATERIALS THAT MAKE UP THE M’89 VEGAN MANGO
UPPER
Corn vegan napa: 29% cotton coated with 71% bio-based PU. Mango vegan napa: 76% recycled discarded mangoes, 14% polyester, 10% PU.
LINING
70% bamboo, 30% Recycled Polyester.
INSOLE
Recycled PU Foam from automotive leftovers 60% + 40% PU Foam.
OUTSOLE
30% natural and 70% synthetic rubber mix.
LACES
Certified organic cotton.
Any of the leftovers not used during the mango napa making process are then used to make this incredible vegan material, so literally there is no waste to speak of!
How cool is that!?
The end product of this process, that you see today, are the M’89 Vegan Mango Sneakers.
Knowing how your sneakers were created means a lot to us, so we hope you love them with a whole new level of appreciation from now on!
“We do not
inherit the
Earth from our
Ancestors, we
borrow it from
our children”