VOA常速英语:Arcas Bear--可回收材料制作的环保鞋

Cynthia Arcas confesses that it was her son who inspired and pushed her to create her own business.
He was making so much, so many questions and one of them was like why we’re wasting resources?
Why we’re wasting so much water?
So because of his questions, I was like, wow yes, and how we could do things different?
Arcas decided she needed to start with herself.
That’s how the brand Arcas Bear was born, sneakers made of recycled material.
The eco-friendly sneakers available in many colors have never been dyed.
They were just made from recycled material of similar color.
And dyeing colors, you know, use water.

You are using chemicals, so I was picking and balancing all of this.
And we decided to do sustainable sneakers made of recycled rubber and recycled cotton and plastic bottles.
Inside is very comfortable. It has a coconut fiber.
Old footwear disfigured and discolored turns into designer shoes.
Those are pieces of rubber.
Those are pieces of other souls that should be discarded.
And we decide to reutilize and the production.
Arcas sneakers shown at the vegan fashion week that took place in Los Angeles early in October together with other designers.
Arcas wants to prove that eco-friendly doesn’t mean ugly.
A lot of vegan clothing and shoe items are sold for hefty prices and there are a whole variety of styles to choose from.
I was a stylist to celebrities right so I was making up and outfits for people.
And I was buying up to like 10 to $15,000 amazing luxury shoes a month,
and I wanted to find a way to make a version that was non-leather and not using any animal cruelty but also having that same amazing feel fit and fashion sense,
And so I went out to do it myself.

Rebecca Mink has been making designer vegan shoes for Hollywood celebrities for over 20 years.
Apples, pineapples, mushrooms, the materials she uses will astonish any clothing guru.
The shoes are manufactured in Italy and cost a fortune,
But high-priced is something that a lot of vegan shoes share.
These sneakers, for example, cost $200 a pair, but sustainability and eco-friendliness is in fashion,
so the company’s making such footwear are not complaining about the lack of customers.
The regular shoes companies, they sales like you going down.
For vegan shoes, it’s going up, because what they are made of it’s not a fashion, you know, just a trend.
For now, vegan shoes seem to be a U.S. thing.
European countries still like their leather.
So most vegan designers are exclusive to the U.S. where they know they’ll find customers