Hi, we are Greet & Mark,

 

Founders of Komrads, world-lovers and serious sneaker addicts.

Our family, our children and their future is the motivation and inspiration behind our advocacy on environmental awareness. We contribute to the change of the fashion industry, one of the most polluting industries there is.

Our adventure started back in 2015 when KOMRADS was founded with one sole purpose: creating a sustainable cult brand rooted in current culture, embracing the now but with huge respect to the heritage of our product and the planet we live on. Appealing to a community of dreamers, creators, musicians and believers. We produce with respect for people and nature.

But we want to go further, we no brand has gone before! This was the starting point of our dream…

 

OUR DREAM: TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The more we became aware of production processes, the more questions we had about the fashion industry.

How polluting is this industry? What about the Rana Plaza disaster and the numerous sweatshops? What about the fact that less than 1% of material used to produce fashion is recycled into new clothing? What about climate change? Every year 18M hectares of Rain Forest -an area the size of England and Wales – is felled and replaced by great swathes of palm oil trees and rubber plantations (the main material used to make sneakers).

And so, this was the starting point of our dream. A dream to produce a comfortable and fashionable sneaker that does not cause harm to our planet. A sneaker for which we do not have to harvest natural commodities. A sneaker built entirely from re-used and recycled materials.

Because we honestly want to make this planet a better place to live on. 

 

 

HOW IT ALL STARTED: THE HERITAGE ICNS

The story of Komrads brings us way back in history: during Soviet Times the Czech Boot Company designed their trademark model as an answer to the Western shoe revolution. However, production was discontinued in 2009 and the story would have stopped there if it wasn’t for our “luv” of this iconic sneaker. We wanted to bring this iconic canvas soviet sneaker back to life, but in a modern and urban way.

Keeping true to its origins, the shoes are still produced in a factory in Partizánske Slovakia. 

The soviet sneaker quickly revealed itself everywhere as an unpretentious hit –with recently many copycats – turning it into an underground gem for years to come. It’s a shoe that celebrates personality and rejoices over individuality.

Handmade and with an orthopedic sole, these downtown sneakers remain an iconic milestone, unparalleled in design, coolness and comfort. With Komrads ICNS nostalgia is no longer a thing of the past.

 

NEXT STEP TOWARDS ZERO IMPACT: APL

At Komrads we care for the planet we live on, so the circular economy is part of our DNA, as is design and quality. Our production process is based on not having to harvest natural commodities but on re-using and recycling.

After more than 1,5 year of trials and errors, sketching and designing and out of the box thinking, we realize we had to go further, where no brand was gone before! We had to rethink every single detail.

In this innovating journey we tested and retested several recycled materials, as we did not want to make any compromise on quality or durability.

And so we are very proud to present the result of our dream the first circular sneaker of our new Eco-world collection called: APL, entirely made out of re-used and recycled materials! 

To control our ecological footprint, we are producing in Europe, so we limit our international transport to an absolute minimum! No social unacceptable working conditions. No harvest of natural resources, we do not destroy ecosystems for rubber plantations.