Japanese professional organiser and consultant Marie Kondo has collaborated with the environmentally-conscious brand Cariuma to launch a new trainer collection.
Using the brand’s bestselling OCA Low trainers – which cost £89 – as the blueprint and starting point, the Konmari by Marie Kondo collection features four different pairs of canvas sneakers, in off-white, rose, light grey and light sand.
Some 109,000 people are reportedly already in a new waitlist for the shoes, which are made from ‘natural and sustainably sourced materials’ promising ‘minimal environmental impact’.
Kondo, 39, is also the founder of the KonMari lifestyle brand, and shot to global fame following the publication of her bestselling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying – which introduced her philosophy for only choosing items that ‘spark joy’.
Thoughtfully designed to encourage customers to hold on to whatever brings them joy, the trainer collaboration aims to encourage people to take small steps towards a life of harmony for themselves, each other, and the planet.
Founders David Python and Fernando Porto launched Cariuma in 2018, after bonding over their mutual interest in skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding, and their love for their home country Brazil.
They pride themselves on creating “cool-classic” trainers that are “good-looking, crazy comfy and consciously-made”, as well as T-shirts and backpacks. The brand also says they plant two trees in the Brazilian rainforest for every pair of shoes sold, through their own on-the-ground reforestation.
Most of the trees planted under this programme – which uses restoration methods such as direct sowing, assisted natural regeneration and tree nurseries – are in the Atlantic forest biome, where only 11% of their original covering is reportedly still alive.
To help enhance indigenous culture and knowledge, Cariuma has also committed to having part of their trees planted in indigenous land, to help enhance indigenous culture and knowledge.
