Croatian hemp shoe firm looks to expand

Source: hemptoday.net


Domagoj Boljar, 32, (left) and his brother Hrvoje, 30, run the hemp shoemaking firm Miret

In the small town of Duga Resa, Croatia, elders still tell stories of thriving local hemp production in the old days. Of how farmers grew it in nearby fields, then how it was soaked for months in the Mrežnica River which flows through the small town (pop. 12,000), to eventually be made into clothing and other household textile goods by the locals.

While hemp has yet to make any significant comeback in Croatian farm fields, a local shoemaker has turned to 100% hemp material as the main component in a line of men’s and women’s sneakers; and in the meantime totally re-oriented a 30-year-old family factory toward sustainable production.

Local hemp strain lost

“Unfortunately, hemp was banned, the original strain of (local) hemp was lost, and hemp was forgotten for years” around Duga Resa (‘long fringe’ in Croatian),” said Domagoj Boljar, 32, business manager for Miret, the firm under which the line of hemp shoes is being manufactured and marketed.

Searching for the right fabric wasn’t easy, Boljar said. While Miret found several hemp textiles on the market, most of them were blends with other materials like polyester or cotton. Finally the company found a supplier with which it worked out a 100% hemp, high-quality, durable fabric that’s made traditionally, without any chemical processing.

While Miret, which Boljar runs with his brother Hrvoje, 30, an industrial designer, started its move to more sustainable footwear four years ago, the family-owned factory where the product is made dates back more than three decades during which it produced shoes from leather and other unsustainable materials such as polyester and petroleum-based rubbers, supplying a range of global brands.

Getting responsible about sustainability

“There are so many inner parts and components of the shoe which are not visible from the outside,” Hrvoje Boljar said of the company’s move to ecological production. “And there are also production leftovers in factories as well. All of this has bothered us for many years and we were searching for a substitute, sustainable material.”

Sustainability is also important in other materials used in the shoes, Hrvoje Boljar said. The rubber soles, for example are produced under the UNI EN ISO 14001 Certificate, and tests have proven the material contains no phytotoxicity when it degrades. Insoles and inner reinforcements are made from natural latex from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree. Natural wool, corn fibers, linen, tencel and kenaf fibers are also in the finished product, as are nickel-free metal components.

Hitting the markets

At the retail level, Miret is opening sales spots around Europe, focusing first on hemp and vegan web shops and physical outlets. At wholesale the company is just embarking on collaboration with players in Austria and Germany as it continues to look for wholesale partners to grow sales in the rest of the EU — with an eye on the North American and Australian markets as well.

With current footwear production capacity at 500 pairs per day, the company says it is also looking into creating other products based on hemp and other natural materials.

“Hemp will surely continue to be our main focus as it has proven itself to be ecological, sustainable and durable,” Domagoj Boljar said.