If you like baking and feel a bit adventurous, try this delicious wholesome recipe using our Edible Shoe Cream in a Christmas pudding! 

1 and 1/2 cups of mixed dried fruit (raisins, apricots and/or prunes)

1/4 cup crystallized ginger, diced small

1/4 cup brandy

1 tbsp orange and lemon zest

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1/4 cup agave syrup

A pinch of sea salt

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cardamom

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 pot of Edible Shoe Cream (or 1/4 cup cold-pressed coconut oil)_­­

1 cup spelt flour

1 cups breadcrumbs

1/2 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup hemp milk or rice milk or soymilk

Marinate dried fruit, ginger, brandy, orange and lemon zest and juices, agave syrup, salt, spices and vanilla for about 8 hours.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Grease the inside of the pudding bowl and add the mixture.

Cover the top of the pudding with a circle of parchment paper and the top of the bowl tightly with aluminium foil with a pleat in the middle to all for expansion.

Cook for four hours in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid, filled with water up to one inch from the top of the bowl.

Enjoy :) 

Are you a fan? Are you proud to own a pair of Po-Zu shoes? Do you genuinely enjoy wearing them? Do you feel they are the most comfortable shoes you have ever worn?

We are starting to collect filmed testimonials from our fans, and we’d love you to share with us your personal experience… Some people have said that they feel as if they are walking on clouds, or that their feet give a blissful sigh every time they put their Po-Zu shoes on!

How do yours feel?

We will be delighted to give away 20 pairs of shoes for the first 20 clips we decide are worth uploading to our website!

All you need is a filming device (mobile will do) and email to us clips up to 1 minute long. For data over 8mb please email via www.wetransfer.com to contact@po-zu.com

Happy Filming!

We thought it would be cool to utilize some of the components we use in our shoes to make some functional accessories. For instance, the padding in the backside of our backpack is exactly the same coir that goes into our foot mattress, designed to provide great cushioning and comfort.  

The elasticated bands on our laptop cases are made from hardwearing natural latex, (which is the same compound as our soles) and have been cut out from our very first and dated sole-mould, which is no longer in use.

Check out our new additions to the Po-Zu family

http://po-zu.com/men/accessories

The school that we can all learn from.

We are looking forward to 2011 as sustainability is becoming increasingly mainstream. We hope to witness more breathtaking projects such as this magical green school, which is probably any child’s dream school…

Known for his bamboo inspired jewlery designes, John Hardy has built the most amazing school complex in Bali, made almost entirely from locally sourced bamboo.

Check out his inspirational talk on TED:

http://www.greenschool.org

London Fashion Week – Last week at Caroline Massey’s show, static models wore some rather special shoes made by Po-Zu for Timberland. The models paused still for over an hour as if time had frozen! Witnessing this powerful calmness in front of buzzing spectators was as refreshing as the outfits themselves.

More to come soon about this exciting collaboration with Timberland for Spring-Summer 2011…

Only two weeks left to enter the Green Awards. You have until the end of September to send your entry. If you are involved in communicating the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and ethical best practice, don't delay, get your entry in today!

Since Po-Zu was nominated in 2006 for our compostable shoebox, we have been following this unique annual celebration of insipring green thinking. Now in their 5th year, the awards have gone global for the first time by opening up to entrants from all over the world.

There are 16 categories including Best Green Product Inovation, through to Best Green Advertising. The Green Awards highlight the importance of keeping people informed of green issues, products and the most sustainable lifestyle choices. This year’s awards ceramony will be held at the Natural History Museum, and hosted by Jo Wood and Wayne Hemingway.

So what are they looking for?

The judges are looking for innovative, creative and original work that really stands out and makes them think. They are looking for proof of the positive sustainable impact of a campaign in terms of environmental, social and economic benefits. The work must have been previously published between October 2009 and October 2010 and not just written for the awards.

The deadline is 30 September. So if you think you have what it takes…

Find out more here.

As many of us tend to spend their summer holidays at the seaside, check out this important campaign from our friends at the EJF…

We just finished reading the latest issue of our beloved green mag Sublime , which this month focuses on working together. That got us thinking about, not only how much more we can achieve when we work together, but also how much more fun it is…

Take for example the Pedibus that we spotted in London recently. It is kind of a communal bicycle that allows friends or complete strangers to propel themselves along using a joint effort of pedal power. The super strong but light weight aluminium chassis allows cyclist to sit in a dinner table formation and to chat, socialise and even enjoy a drink or two while pedalling.

The Pedibus has next to zero emissions as it drives purely by pedal power and its lights and sound system are powered by solar energy. Maybe one day, the Pedibus will replace urban buses and trams… imagine what it would do for the environment, to our fitness levels, and our social lives!

Just over a week to go until thekey.to trade fair at Berlin Fashion Week and we can't wait... This is one of the most innovative platforms for green fashion, sustainable lifestyle and culture.

There will be a great mix of edgy fashion brands, eco classics, and great contemporary designs. Each of them also fulfils a number of criteria in terms of ethics and sustainability including use of sustainable materials and certifications in social standards.

Events at the fair will include an ethical fashion show, a new concept area for green shopping, workshops, and parties of course! Whilst slow fashion seems to be the more sustainable option, the conference will explore the contribution of speed, innovation and fresh ideas to green fashion with a panel that includes fashion Dr Otto von Busch, Professor at the Gothenburg University in Sweden, known for his artistic "fashion hacking" projects and Tamsin Lejeune, Director of the Ethical Fashion Forum.

We will be exhibiting and presenting our Po-Zu SS11 range at thekey.to acceleration from 8 - 10th July in Berlin, we look forward to seeing you there. You can find out more or register to visit here.

http://thekey.to

We recently went to a great green show called UK Aware http://www.ukaware.com/ and met so many lovely people... We were especially delighted to discover the UK Cork Industry Federation http://www.cork-products.co.uk/ as our love for cork has been growing stronger then ever this season. 

Cork is a very unusual material in that its cells are aligned in a honeycomb type of structure and filled with air, making it very compressible and elastic. When pressed, cork will return to its original shape. This property makes it useful for many purposes in industry and the arts.

There has been concern in recent years about wineries switching away from cork. The reason for the shift is that a cork stopper can occasionally ruin the taste of wine. Rather than being a good environmental move, it is argued that the shift away from cork will be damaging to the environment. The reason is that without wineries using cork, the demand for cork would fall to the point that cork forests would stop being maintained or replaced altogether with more profitable products. Therefore, coming up with new and innovative uses for cork may be critical to its future.

Being such an amazing versatile material, we wanted to share with you a few of the coolest and unusual cork objects we found…

"Roll Chair" made from 3000 wine corks, by Gabriel Wiese

http://www.galleryoffunctionalart.com/wiese.shtml

Cork Umbrella by Sandra Correia
http://incrediblethings.com/style-and-gear/cork-umbrella/

iPhone cork case by Griffin
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/elanformcork

Sofa by Trevor O’Neil
www.bornrich.org