Meet Brave Soles: a fashion brand that creates handcrafted shoes with upcycled tire soles and upcycled accessories, working with local artisans across the North Coast of the Dominican Republic to supply all of their items in an ethical manner. The team at Brave Soles have one thing in common: they are curious and inspired by the continuing question of how they can create something that is a growing reflection of their love for people and the planet.
Give us the details! Tell us a bit about you and the story behind Brave Soles:
Christal Earle has been a lifelong social entrepreneur. As the co-founder of Live Different, an international youth humanitarian charity, she was first introduced to landfill workers in vulnerable parts of the world. What started out as a passion for social equality has grown into a love for people and the planet. In 2017 she launched Brave Soles with $250, working with local artisans in the Dominican Republic. Brave Soles creates handcrafted shoes with upcycled tire soles and upcycled accessories, and is focused on providing opportunities for their customers and fans to love the story behind what they own.
What problem does your product/service solve or contribute towards the improvement of?
Discarded tires and other usable materials fill landfills, ditches and waterways around the world. They are biohazardous and they pose significant health risks. Yet materials such as tires, deadstock fabrics and leathers present endless opportunities for circular fashion designs. Through a simple and scalable process, Brave Soles is creating fashion that is kind to both people and planet - and built on a circular economy.
Since our launch in 2017, Brave Soles has been primarily focused on ecommerce and building retail partnerships with small scale retailers and drop shipping companies. We have positioned ourselves in the affordable sustainable fashion space, offering customers the chance to be able to make better choices and feel good about the story they are participating in with their purchasing power.
Our brand was inspired by our founder’s work with landfill workers in the Dominican Republic and her realization that there were simple solutions to help tackle very complex problems that were affecting vulnerable people in the communities. We track how many tires we have reclaimed and we are now carbon neutral in our shipping.
Given your experiences as a female business owner, what advice would you give to your younger self 5-10 years ago?
I would tell myself to not apologize for the big dreams I have, to be more kind to myself and to never stop doing yoga :)
What is the best sustainable swap you have made in the last year?
I have made a couple of small swaps that are actually really amazing. One is I moved from using bottles of shampoo to all natural shampoo and conditioner bars. I will never go back!! They are amazing and I have been able to cut down on so much plastic. They travel well and they smell amazing. My hair and scalp feel so great and I keep on telling everyone about it :)
Fast forward five years—what is next for Brave Soles?
We will have built out our business model using a wide variety of small scale suppliers, helping to build a kinder supply chain for people to model other supply chains after. We will have also saved 50,000 tires out of landfills ;)
You are shopping at the Green Living Store, and you have three other products in your shopping cart. What are they?