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We are delighted to feature in the Guardian's supplement today, My Green Pod 

‘I had to resist the dark side and make a real alternative, that’s why I started Po-Zu: our footwear’s free of solvent-based glues, made from sustainable materials like organic cotton, natural rubber, cork and made with respect to the people who make the shoes.’

SVEN SEGAL
Founder of Po-Zu 

Read more about the Star Wars collaboration featured on page 24 in today's Guardian newspaper supplement My Green Pod. 

AND see page 42 of their magazine - there's a rather splendid competition to WIN £500 to spend at Po-Zu.com too. 

Anthony Daniels C-3P0, these are the shoes you are looking for

Spotted at the recent Glastonbury Festival - We were delighted to see Star Wars Legend Anthony Daniels - aka C-3P0, ditched the golden suit in favour of his new favourite Po-Zu BRISK sneakers - thankfully it was a dry Glastonbury weekend, so wellies were not required!

We hear from Anthony that he is totally in love with his vegan sneakers - and is keen to try the RESISTANCE sneakers on for size in August!

Thank to Jill Barker at Middlewick for this fabulous photo.

And to see more of our Star Wars collection, visit us at the London Film ComicCon and Anthony Daniels will be guesting at Boston ComicCon in August (where we are sure he will be telling EVERYone about his love for Po-Zu shoes!)

Anthony Daniels is an English actor and mime artist. He is known for playing C-3PO in the Star Wars film series. He is the only actor to have appeared in all of the major films in the series, as well as its many spin-offs.

Po-Zu Wins Best Ethical Fashion Label Award

We are delighted to have won Best Ethical Fashion Award last night at the Fashion Worked Awards hosted at Century Club Roof Terrace in Soho.

Olivia Pinnoch, Founder of the Fashion Debates, presented the Ethical Fashion category award, judged by Tamsin Lejeune, CEO of Ethical Fashion Forum and Harold Tillman CBE. 

Sven Segal, Founder and Safia Minney, Managing Director of Po-Zu collected the trophy, a golden Hippo!

Sven, Saf & the Po-Zu team are really thrilled and Sven has proudly arranged the Hippo Award next to Po-Zu’s other awards, exclaiming “I guess you have to have a skin as thick as a Hippo to keep up your ‘PoZutivity’ and keep pioneering an ethical and sustainable shoe company!

Check out our collection here

Read about the other winners to the awards here

It was fascinating to watch the entire making process of the Resistance sneakers; there is always room for being attracted to new techniques even after working as a shoe designer for over 20 years...

We are here to resist the dark side of ‘mass-production’; these Resistance sneakers are clearly hand-made by skillful makers who pride themselves for their craftsmanship, attention to detail, and putting together a quality product.

I was delighted to see that even the rubberised Rebel Alliance badge application was such a measured manual process; how they pour the creamy rubber carefully into the shallow metal mould, one by one, then wiping the excess off and baking it for over 7 minutes. The freshly baked marzipan-like badge then magically appears perfectly fused onto the organic cotton canvas.

The interior construction of the quilted back panel is one of my favourite operations too, how the spongy latex foam strips are layered like a double-decker to form a mini Michelin man’s tummy once stitched together.

We have been fortunate to team up with this immaculate Portuguese shoe factory to develop and produce our co-branded Star Wars collection. They have recently phased out all solvent-based glues (partly thanks to us urging them to meet our sustainable standards), so the quality of air is pleasant too. Working in such a clean environment makes a huge difference to the worker’s health and well-being, compared with the vast majority shoe factories I have visited whereby workers are exposed to toxic fumes on a daily basis.

You may call me a dreamer but I love the idea of making shoes for a higher purpose; our mission is to restore workers’ rights, people’s feet, and ultimately make better shoes; a small thing considering the purpose of the Rebel Alliance is to restore freedom to the entire galaxy!

As you wear these vegan Resistance sneakers and experience the bounce of our natural latex Foot-Mattress™, may you feel the force right beneath your feet.

By Sven Segal

Founder of Po-Zu

SHOP the collection here, available in Mens, Womens, and Children's sizes in an array of colours.

World Fair Trade Day takes place this year on Saturday 13 May.

Initiated in 2001 by Safia Minney, Managing Director of Po-Zu.com, Author of Slave to Fashion, and founder of People Tree; World Fair Trade Day is now a global event raising awareness of sustainable development, poverty eradication and social justice.

This weekend we are asking people to support World Fair Trade Day with the hashtags #WFTD and #EthicalTopToToe and tag the instagram/twitter handles @Po_Zu  and @SlavetoFash.

Safia writes: as People Tree’s Founder and CEO, we were already running World Fair Trade Day campaigns across Japan, with European and US Fair Trade organisations, showing how fairer trade makes a huge difference to people’s lives and community development.

Helping to prevent child labour by helping children attend school and escape poverty; supporting women’s economic independence who have been abandoned by their husbands; and how a strong partnership in trade can help Fair Trade suppliers invest in environmental initiatives. 
Fair Trade has been the most significant global movement that has set the agenda and “tested and proven” that another way of business is possible. It has set the agenda and galvanised the sustainable development, social justice and poverty reduction debate.

It has also led the movement calling for corporate responsibility and accountability.

When I led the initiative to form a recognised World Fair Trade Day in 1999, endorsed by the World Fair Trade Organisation, other Fair Trade companies were quick to support me and many became national coordination offices for their countries.

Before long, there were over 3000 events in over 30 countries around the world from breakfasts created with Fair Trade ingredients, fair trade fashion shows, debates, events, producers meeting with consumers, supported by media, politicians and key leaders, influencers and celebrities. This has led to heightened awareness and the Modern Slavery Act, instigated by Baroness Lola Baroness Young of Hornsey (pictured below with Safia Minney at the Slave to Fashion book launch) where companies of over £36mn per annum, are obliged to report on what they are doing to eradicate slavery from their supply chains. It has also helped shape the debate on sustainability and prove that a new economics approach is possible.

Shopping from the ethical pioneers like, People Tree, Po-Zu, Riverford Organics, Ecotricity; etc. Many people are joining campaigns like World Fair Trade Day, Fashion Revolution, Clean Clothes Campaign and introducing the issues to their friends. 

My new book Slave to Fashion explores modern slavery and human trafficking. It is a good read for anyone in business to understand how to go about investigating their supply chain.

I knew the importance of good communications and design when I set up People Tree, as I had worked in advertising and media. I was fed up with supporting bad business and wanted to prove there was another way of doing business. I look forward in my new role as managing Director of Po-Zu, to make it the go-to ethical footwear brand with our amazing team. It’s relatively easy to dress "ethically top to toe" and find a green solution to most of the things that I need to buy from organic food, green energy to eco holidays.

So this weekend we are asking people to support World Fair Trade Day with the hashtags #WFTD and #EthicalTopToToe and tag my instagram/twitter handles @Po_Zu  and @SlavetoFash.

Click here to watch Safia in conversation with Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity (and massive fan of Star Wars)

Click here to pre-order your own Star Wars - Po-Zu shoes and boots

Click here for our Spring/Summer 2017 mainline collection

I think wearing the Rey boot for a trial through early spring put a bounce in my step rarely seen in January amongst commuters on the Northern line. I was delighted to meet the craftsmen of my boots in Portugal last week.

The factory that makes the natural rubber soles for the Rey boot is based north of Porto. It is big, well ventilated, with lots of shiny metal that reminds me of a chocolate making factory in Switzerland… but maybe a bit more steam punk! (older machines from the 60s and 70s).  The long, thick slabs of rubber are placed into a steel machine and cooked, after minutes they emerge, waffle on one side, and the outer sole tread on the other.  I love the way the excess rubber flaps off like bits of fried egg or comical fingers of rubber gloves hanging freshly-baked over the heavy metal.  The waste rubber is cut away and then placed ready for the fantasy laser engraving that is burnt into the sole.

The thick coconut-fibre sheets lie ready on the table, under a single foot-shaped cookie cutter, the iconic Po-Zu Foot-Mattress is cut, one by one, and placed into the rubber sole.  The wool tweed fabric is rolled out onto the cutting table and again hand-held cutters shaped for each part of the pattern of the uppers are placed under the pressing machine. The parts are neatly tied together and passed to the seamstress.  As with many Po-Zu styles, the details surprise: there is a back heel panel made in local Portuguese cork, which is printed in metallic bronze with the Resistance logo and the Star Wars logo is embossed into the cork. 

The wool tweed is layered and sewn back to back for extra warmth and durability – the seamstress makes the sewing look easy, moving deftly around the cork on the back heel and adding a layer wool felt for the lining.  This unique upper looks like a woolen baseball cap, until it is sewn to the rubber sole – using a little water-based glue. No synthetic-based solvents here. 

Once finished, the Rey boot is then tagged and placed in the Star Wars Po-Zu box.

This boot looks so like the one Rey wore in The Force Awakens.

Watch the film, if you don’t believe me!

By Safia Minney

BB-8 ROLLS IN TO JOIN OUR STAR WARS™ PO-ZU COLLECTION

"Where do you come from?" - Rey 
[BB-8 "beeps"]
"Classified, really? Me too. Big secret". – Rey

BB-8 our best kept big secret; this is how we roll…

These on-trend high-top vegan sneakers are sure to add a splash of colour to your wardrobe - taking the Autumn-Winter 2017 orange hue forecast by storm.

Core features include a BB-8 droid badge in rubber, organic cotton upper and lining, quilted rear hexagonal panel, cushioned tongue, removable memory-foam Foot-Mattress™ (allows orthotics placement) in latex and cork, and a high performance grip natural rubber cup sole.

The BB-8 Sneakers will be available for sale from August 2017 for both women’s and children.

A skittish but loyal Astromech droid, BB-8 accompanied Poe Dameron on many missions for the Resistance, helping keep his X-wing in working order. 

When Poe’s mission to Jakku ended with his capture by the First Order, BB-8 fled into the desert with a vital clue to the location of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.

In case you missed the news on our other Star Wars™ co-branded releases click here for Resistance and Rey, Poe and Chewie.

For hi-res images please contact press@po-zu.com

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to repost it on instagram or share the tweet:

What if we told you that Circular Fashion is at least 5000 years old?

Fashion has always been innovative. Inspired by the traditions from Japan, New Zealand and the Arctic, the National Museums of World Culture in Sweden recently started a creative dialogue with a selection of European designers who are championing Circular Fashion.

The museum is home to some amazing historic examples of clothing, textiles and fabrics from across the world that use techniques that are the foundation of circular fashion today.

And Po-Zu could be there too -  We are delighted to have been shortlisted by the National Museums of World Culture in their Circular Fashion project. With your help we could be also be featured in their museum shop in Gothenburg.

In the process of talking to Po-Zu and selected designers from around the world, the museum discovered some fantastic innovations: from pantyhose made from recycled yarn to our own vegan shoes. Find out more about the six shortlisted designers, who responded to objects from our collection with items from their own collections.

You can participate in their Twitter poll to select two designers who will be featured in our museum shops in Stockholm and Gothenburg in 2017!

Read more about the shortlisted designers HERE 

Who will you select from the shortlist for the museum shop in Gothenburg?

1. Materials that flow in the wind like water
Designer: Jeanette Schäring, Gothenburg

2. A unique collaboration with Kenya’s first Fair Trade clothing company
Designer: Secret Samples, Aarhus

3. Vegan shoes made from Pinatex pineapple leaf fibres
Designer: Po-Zu, London

Who will you select from the shortlist for the museum shops in Stockholm?

1. A skirt inspired by a fingerprint
Designer: José Hendo, London

2. Pantyhose that won’t harm the environment
Designer: Swedish Stockings, Stockholm

3. A quilted jacket inspired by Japanese traditions
Designer: Rebecca Carr, York

Have your say, take part in the Twitter poll to choose the designer you would like to see featured in the museum shops in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

The polls will run on December 14 and 15.

The museum will announce the two selected designers on Friday, December 16. Their designs will be featured in their museum shops in Stockholm and Gothenburg in 2017 – so help us spread the word and vote for us.

May good soles be with you!

twitter.com/Po_Zu