Sustainability

Social Sustainability

At Sarah Flint, we believe new luxury puts people first.

This means supporting our Italian artisans and their generations-old craft, working with family-owned factories on small-run releases. It means the luxury of original designs that are as beautiful as they are comfortable, offering style without sacrifice. Our new luxury is premium materials and superior products created without cutting corners or compromising on integrity. And it is the luxury of bringing you exceptional styles without the traditional wholesale mark-up, offering direct-to-you pricing every day.

Our artisans

We work with Italian artisans who handcraft every shoe and accessory that carries the Sarah Flint label. We recognize their talent, appreciating the many hours, vast knowledge, and familial practices behind each design. While many brands only assemble the shoes in Italy and do the stitching or cutting elsewhere, Sarah Flint shoes are 100% certified made in Italy alongside the leading luxury names in the world. We rely on skilled, artisanal production techniques backed by generations and largely left behind by modern mass manufacturing.

Our eight factory partners range in size from 8 to 55 artisans, and all are 3rd or 4th generation family-owned, taking enormous pride in each shoe created. The need for and presence of human skill, craftsmanship, and heart defines the true nature of our collections.

Our artisans are offered a master craftsman’s wage, health insurance, and all our factories abide by Italy’s strict labor regulations. Our team in Italy is in our factories every week to ensure our quality, conditions and values standards are being met. We have strong and lasting personal relationships with our artisans and their leaders: they are more than suppliers; they are part of the Sarah Flint family.

Our process

We invest in small runs of enduring styles, focusing on high-quality materials and comfort-driven designs to make our shoes a part of your daily life. This in turns helps us minimize waste and our use of resources, as well as curb over-production. We choose to be mindful rather than simply making more.

Environmental Sustainability

At Sarah Flint, we believe new luxury considers the wellbeing of our planet.

Our premium leathers are all tanned in Italy where strict guidelines exist to minimize water pollution, and the tanneries are located near our factories to shorten shipping distances and minimize our carbon footprint. We don’t use any PVC, a synthetic plastic, in our shoes and accessories and we never will. We use water-based glues in our production process, which are non-toxic, easily recyclable, and safe to handle for our artisans (our Sustainable Steps Collection shoes also feature adhesive-free insoles).

Every element of our packaging is plastic-free. Our dustbags and the fabric panels in our shoe boxes are made of 100% recycled cotton and designed for reuse; our compostable shoe sticks are made of sugar beet - or sugarcane-based PLA; our tissue paper is 100% recycled; and our boxes are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a third-party group that verifies that the land or resources being used are managed to preserve biological diversity and benefit the lives of local people and workers.

As we grow, we continue to explore and execute on environmental initiatives to improve our impact on our world. We know there is much more work to be done and this is only the beginning. We welcome your suggestions and feedback at sarahflint@sarahflint.com.

2021 Achievements

Prioritized the sourcing of leather uppers from manufacturers certified by the Leather Working Group(LWG), a not-for-profit organization working on environmental certifications for leather supply chains worldwide. 58% of our current shoe offerings that feature leather uppers are sourced from LWG-certified manufacturers, with 81% of that number sourced from LWG Gold-rated manufacturers.

Launch of the first style in our Sustainable Steps Collection, our Perfect Round Toe Pump. This style features:

An Eco Insole manufactured with a combination of recycled content and corn-based PLA. Compared to traditional insole manufacturing, it has a 100% reduction in non-recyclable waste generation and a 100% reduction in adhesives.

◦ An Eco Heel that compared to traditional heel manufacturing reduces electricity consumption by 66%; thermal energy consumption by 80%, and wastewater production by 99%

◦ 100% recycled leather outsole sourced from manufacturing waste

◦ Biodegradable insole foam made with 100% waste and glue reduction

Offering Slow Leather in the Perfect Zip Bootie (in Calf). Slow Leather is a type of leather that undergoes up to 90 days in resting time, resulting in a high-quality, flexible leather that produces 18% less chromium in its wastewater compared to traditional chrome-tanned leather.

Moved to 100% plastic-free packaging, including compostable shoe sticks made of sugar beet- or sugarcane-based PLA and FSC-certified 100% recycled tissue paper

Moved to dustbags and fabric panels made from 100% recycled cotton

Completed the B-Impact Assessment to measure our performance against important sustainability metrics and determine our critical next steps

In progress

Expanding our Sustainable Steps Collection (SSC) each season with new environmentally-conscious products

Rolling out the SSC elements to additional core stylesIncreasing the share of our upper suppliers that are certified by the Leather Working Group, with the goal of achieving 100% by 2026

Working on FSC certification and/or recyclability for our printed materialsLaunching a cobbler program to further the longevity of our footwear and promote circularity

Regularly auditing our supply chain and tracing raw materials

Increasing the use of slow leather (leather manufactured with lower amounts of chromium in wastewater) and other environmentally-conscious leather manufacturing practices

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