When I was growing up my family used to constantly joke that I was terrible at keeping secrets. I didn’t really understand what they meant. I could technically keep a secret if I wanted to, it was just that knowing a secret made me so damn excited, and then sometimes that excitement would result in me accidentally blurting it out to a bunch of people I shouldn’t have.
Anyway, 30 years later and now a fully grown adult (I think), and my tendency to over-zealously let a secret or two slip hasn’t gone unnoticed by my coworkers.
Soooo I guess my family were right all along. My name is Jess and I’m terrible at keeping secrets.
Exhibit A: Bianca our socials manager telling me off in the comments for announcing a style before we launched it.
Hopefully this helps you understand just how freaking impossible it has been for me to keep this secret for TWO YEARS. That’s right, the idea of BWOOTS came about in April 2021.
One evening I found myself trawling through the interwebs, searching for a pair of fabulous boots. I had a checklist: vegan, comfy, farshion, good quality, and around $200. I found nothing… and I’m a good Googler. There were cheap fast fashion finds, or bajillion dollar boots from boujee brands, but nothing in between.
I complained to Stef who responded something like “if you want a pair of boots like that why don’t you just make them yourself”.
DUHHHH. She’s so clever like that.
So we did. We decided we would make boots that were better. And with 8 out of the 10 materials they’re made from being environmentally-focused, I wholeheartedly feel like we’ve done that.
As the resident secret spiller at TWOOBS, I’m gonna let you in on some “confidential” info to help you understand why our BWOOTS are so damn special.
The recycled lycra or the stretchy stuff that goes around your ankle.
This has become our TWOOBSy staple for its high recycled content (80%) and how freaking soft it is on your foot. You may be wondering why the recycled component isn’t 100%, to which our very clever footwear designer Kate would explain that for it to be strong and last long there needs to be an element of virgin or new material.
The recycled PU or the soft stuff that looks like leather.
This is 58% recycled, and just like leather it’s nicely durable, can be wiped down if it’s dirty, and is also really soft so it will give a little over time. Unlike leather though, no animals were killed in the making of it, so let’s cheers to that sister. There are some really cool plant-based leather alternatives popping up so we’re looking into some for future productions.
The natural rubber or the stuff that protects your tootsies.
You might have noticed a rubber heel and toe cap – this is to make them hardier and durable for anything you throw at them. Another fun fact for you is that similar to how maple syrup comes from tapping maple trees, natural rubber comes from tapping rubber trees. Most other rubber you see (about 70%) is synthetic, which is petroleum based.
The recycled TPR or the stuff under your footsies.
Speaking of synthetic rubber, this is one of them. It was hard to decide what to make our sole out of because truthfully none of what is on the market is completely perfect. We went with recycled TPR because it was the best option, we could get the highest recycled content (51%), and it met other requirements around lightweightedness (is that a word?) and longevity.
Oops… I think I’ve already spilled too much.
If you want to see what other top secret materials we’ve used click here, if you want to shop our bwootiful creations head here, and if you want to gush about how excited you are that you can now wear TWOOBS all year round please slide into our DMs and we will happily get involved.
J xx
