"Few things worked right off the bat."

Flip co-founder Dominik Sothmann talks in an interview about how the research start-up developed a recyclable sneaker together with shoe manufacturer Monaco Ducks.

It's been a little less than a year since research startup Flip published images of an illegal dumpsite in Kenya. Mountains of used textiles and shoes, exported from Europe to Africa, where no one can use them anymore and they pollute the environment. The journalists were led there by a research project: the sneaker hunt. For this, Flip had equipped old shoes of celebrities with GPS transmitters and thrown them into recycling boxes to track their way.

After the sneaker hunt, the startup launched an experiment: they wanted to make a recyclable sneaker with a sole made of 25 percent granules from shredded old shoes. Flip and shoe manufacturer Monaco Ducks have since founded the new company GRND for the project. In an interview, Flip co-founder and GRND project manager Dominik Sothmann talks about the project - and their crowdfunding currently underway.

Mr. Sothmann, you want to make a shoe that solves Africa's garbage problem. How do you plan to do that?

The sneaker won't solve any waste problems at first. We see our sneaker more as a pioneering project. We want to get people talking about the waste problem. And we hope that it will lead manufacturers to consider, for example, take-back systems that return shoes to the point where they were brought into circulation.

The idea sounds crazy at first: producing your own sneaker. How did you come up with it?

For us, the most impressive thing was seeing the pictures of textile waste in Africa. That does something to you. At the beginning of this year, we decided: Actually, we shouldn't stop at this problem. However, we had zero idea about the whole matter, we are not shoe developers. So we got together with Monaco Ducks and the Faculty of Design, Fashion and Sustainability at Reutlingen University to try an open experiment. We quickly said to ourselves that we also need partners in Kenya because the processes and structures there are different. That's why it's good to have Africa Collect Textiles as a small start-up that can support us in this. The overriding premise has always been: In the end, the sneaker must do more good than harm.

As you say, you had no idea about manufacturing. And it all worked out that way anyway?

No, few things worked right off the bat. Getting partners was not so easy, especially in Kenya, a country where there are really quite different challenges than participating in a sneaker experiment. Our vision is to shift more and more of the value creation to Kenya. But we are still miles away from that. But you have to start somewhere. To be able to make a complete shoe in Kenya at some point, that would be just mega.

In the design phase, we made sure to consider a certain recyclability of the product right from the start.

At what point does it become worthwhile to transfer the entire value chain to Kenya?

It's not easy to answer when it's worth bringing value creation to Africa. The question is rather: How long does it take to prepare it adequately locally? If you think ahead in stages, you need someone who can make the sole in Kenya. But we haven't found anything in that area yet.

With your crowdfunding you write that a conventional sneaker has about 30 components. Your sneaker has only 15, 13 of which are recyclable. How can that be?

In the design phase, we made sure to think about a certain recyclability of the product from the beginning. That depends on having as few parts and as few different materials as possible. Otherwise you have a shoe that you have to take apart into its individual parts before you can recycle it properly. Therefore, the upper shoe is mainly made of a single material.

To ensure that your sneakers don't pollute the environment in Africa at the end of their life cycle, you're planning your own recycling program. How will that work?

We've put a QR code on the tongue of the shoe that people can scan with their cell phones and then land on a page describing how to send this shoe back to us. The customer gets ten euros back from the purchase price or a 20-euro voucher for the store. How we then want to recycle the sneakers, we don't know yet in some parts. But because we have so little material mix in the upper shoe, I'm confident that recycling will succeed.

After 54 minutes, you have already reached your first crowdfunding goal of 10,000 euros. In the meantime, more than 500 people have participated. How do you explain this success?

I believe that we have reached many people through Sneakerjagd and that many are interested in how to deal constructively with the problems that have been uncovered. Our project is not a panacea now, but a possible approach. I personally believe that there is an overall desire in society not only to learn about problems, but also about possible solutions and what can be done about them.

Where do we go from here?

Our crowdfunding with GRND is still running for a few days. If you like, you are welcome to participate. After that, it's first about the production of the crowdfunding amount. We have to organize that and order materials and fabrics. But there are also new questions: What kind of staff do we need to be able to run something like this sustainably? And which distribution channels will be important in the future? We still have to plan that.

You uncovered the scandal with Flip, then made the shoe and now also report on their own sneaker. How does the editorial team maintain its journalistic independence when financial interests play a role?

Editorial and product sides are clearly separated at our company, just like in any other media house. When the sneaker was still an experiment, the editorial team accompanied us during prototype development and reported on everything that happened. Since the crowdfunding began, not a single journalist from our team has had anything to do with the shoe. The project has transitioned into its own company, GRND. Flip has a 50% stake in this company, just like Monaco Ducks, and product and innovation experts are on the operational management team.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Personal details: Dominik Sothmann founded the research start-up Flip in 2020 together with his brother Christian and the two journalists Felix Rohrbeck and Christian Salewski. He recently also became project manager at GRND, the joint venture between Flip and Monaco Ducks. Previously, Sothmann worked as a consultant and project manager in the energy industry, including at the green energy provider Lichtblick.