Our demands on ourselves!
Our VLACE' 95 is made from grape waste. Grape leather with its grainy appearance is a great vegan alternative to animal leather.
GRAPESKIN From Italian vineyards
Our partner from Italy has developed an innovative material that is characterized by a high proportion of plant-based, renewable and recycled raw materials: grape residues from wine production, vegetable oils and natural fibers from agriculture. Our supplier works closely with Italian wineries, so that GrapeSkin comes 100% from Italy.
Did you know that the inner lining of every VLACE is made from recycled PET bottles? We have made it our mission to design our shoes as consciously as possible.
In addition, 15% of plastic packaging in Germany alone is made of PET. There are over 1 million tons of PET on the market in Germany and only 28 percent of this is made of recycled materials. However, 94% of all PET bottles are now recycled and reused. We use these materials, which are declared as waste, for the inner workings of our shoes. Our material manufacturer in Italy has made it its mission to use "post-consumer recycled yarns" that come from the recycling of PET bottles and fishing nets.
We want to do our small part to give new life to materials declared as waste and thus restart the life cycle of the products.
We stand behind it
With every step you take with VLACE, you are not only supporting our brand, but also the entire planet. Animals no longer have to die for fashion and people work under good conditions.
We create sneakers for people who share our enthusiasm for attention to detail, customers who really care about where their sneaker comes from and who are interested in how the sneaker is made, people who want to use their style not only to underline their individuality but also to express an attitude.
That's how it all started
In 2018, the leather and shoe industry was heavily criticized! Sentences like: “Slave-like working conditions in Vietnam - cruel
Leather production in Bangladesh” could be read everywhere.
These sentences and facts shocked me very much, I went into the city to find a vegan and environmentally friendly sneaker brand produced in Europe, but to no avail. All brands either used animal leather or were made in Asia. There was no alternative and if there was an alternative, it did not look stylish. For me it was clear that if there were no sneakers on the
If there are materials on the market that can meet my needs, I'll just do it myself. I knew there were exciting alternative materials on the market, but no one had used them because they were too expensive.
At the beginning of 2022, I got on a plane with a small suitcase, a self-drawn design of my sneaker and a long list of producers and moved to Portugal for three months. I had the vision in my head that my sneaker had to be vegan and handmade in Portugal, but I had no idea how I could make this happen. Many producers did not even want to make an appointment with me because I had only requested small quantities at the beginning and had no name in the industry. Hardly any producer understood my idea of producing a vegan sneaker. I was about to abandon my idea, but after two months and at least 40
A few appointments later, the perfect producer was found.
My name is Viola and I am very happy to present you VLACE, a vegan sneaker brand, handmade in Portugal. The materials are based on fruit waste and I get them from Italy. The basis of the upper material is grape, apple, orange and corn waste. In addition, the sneakers are made in a family-run shoe factory with 25
employees. All material parts are made of recycled particles, for example the interior of the sneaker is made of recycled PET
Bottles and the laces are made from recycled cotton. Compared to a conventionally tanned leather sneaker with 60 kg C02/m2, our grape sneaker only uses 3 kg C02/m2.