Saola

Since its creation, SAOLA has been committed to the preservation of wildlife, named after Saola, an endangered species. 1% of the proceeds from every pair of their shoes sold supports MWALUA WILDLIFE TRUST, a grassroots organization that relies on volunteer efforts to supply sustainable water systems to wildlife communities, while also promoting human-wildlife coexistence. Volunteers work with communities to raise awareness about conservation, to promote ecological restoration, and to increase ethical economic opportunities to protect Kenya’s nature and biodiversity. Another 1% of SAOLA shoe sales goes towards 1% For the Planet, ensuring that future generations can enjoy wildlife, and animals like the Saola, as much as they have

Sixty to seventy percent of the environmental footprint of a pair of shoes is a result of the product's materials, because of that SAOLA has made eco-construction the central pillar of their shoe development. The uppers of their shoes are made with recycled plastic bottles, otherwise known as PET, giving a second life to plastic and reducing trash in landfills. For their soles, they use harmful natural algae that invade lakes and affect aquatic biodiversity, allowing them to both to use less synthetic materials (between 15% and 20%) for their soles, and to clean lakes of these algae and to limit the release of CO2 into the atmosphere. They also use organic cotton for their laces, and cork for their insoles, both are natural and biodegradable materials

SAOLA Shoes has been working since 2019 with a factory near Hanoi in Vietnam. This factory works with a few big brands that have social and environmental charters in place . This allows the brand to guarantee favorable working conditions for the employees but also the quality of the products because as a young brand, it is practically impossible to impose anything on anyone