SOLE Blog

October 5th, 2009

SOLE Partners with ReCORK America to Produce Footwear from Recycled Natural Wine Corks

SOLE, the manufacturer of premium footbeds, socks and sandals, announces its partnership with ReCORK America™, a US-based wine cork recycling program sponsored by Amorim of Portugal, the world's largest producer of natural cork. SOLE will use a blend of recycled cork wine bottle closures in its line of 2010 footwear products.

"We have been working with ReCORK for over eight months," states Mike Baker, president of SOLE. "They provided us with thousands of used corks and we did the R&D necessary to successfully develop a cork blend that enhances the material properties of our products. This is the kind of sustainable effort that benefits everyone."

ReCORK and SOLE have an agreement to find sustainably optimized ways to reuse and recycle as many corks as can be collected. Roger Archey, a spokesman for Amorim's ReCORK, says the timing is perfect. "We have collected nearly four million corks since the program started in 2007 - that's without promotion or fanfare. The SOLE partnership will give us the opportunity to dramatically expand our collection efforts and better serve our current and future collection partners."

ReCORK's recycling partners include many familiar names in the wine, hospitality and retail markets, including: American Airlines/Sodexo, The Wine Tasting Network, Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Rodney Strong Wine Estates, Cakebread Cellars, Whole Foods Markets in Northern California, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, Rutherford Wine Co. and PlumpJack.

Read more at PitchEngine.com

Posted by: Matt Lambert at 2:35 p.m. in News | Comments (0)