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“Soles4Souls is a key part of Crocs’ circularity journey and specifically the success of our consumer takeback program. Our takeback bins continue to fill up with shoes ready for a new life, not only from consumers in our retail stores, but also from our corporate employees in our offices. Crocs, Inc. employees are proud of our longstanding partnership with Soles4Souls and the positive impact on climate and community that we’ve achieved together.
As consumer scrutiny grows and sustainability budgets tighten, even the most successful businesses can’t afford to ignore product end-of-life.
Crocs™ is one of the world’s most loved footwear brands. Its iconic clogs are now sold in more than 80 countries and though the brand has been a comfort and fashion staple for more than twenty years, Crocs’ popularity shows no signs of slowing—with Gen Z fans donning bold colors and Jibbitz™ charms to drive record enterprise revenues of $4.1 billion in 2024.
A pillar of Crocs’ success is its shoe performance and durability. But once owners decide it’s time for a new pair, how can the brand ensure that they have the option to extend the lives of their shoes?
Fashion with a footprint: The climate cost of footwear
Shoes are the cherries on top of any outfit. Beyond protecting our feet from the elements, they’re an entire fashion statement, conveying style and selfdom as well as comfort and convenience. It’s why the global footwear industry manufactures around 24 billion pairs each year, earning a staggering $400 billion in revenue along the way.
However, billions of these shoes also end up in landfills, significantly contributing to resource waste and climate change. Brands must minimize this waste to create real social, environmental, and business impact. For Crocs, taking action on this issue represented a vital step in its purpose: ‘Creating a More Comfortable World for All’. But it couldn’t achieve this mission alone.
“Crocs’ circularity ambition is to champion circular models of production and consumption through innovative product design and collaboration. To make this ambition a reality, we know we must help break the linear take-make-waste model. “Our end-of-life vision is to close the loop by directing shoes away from landfills, while minimizing waste and carbon in a financially resilient manner. Soles4Souls allows us to keep shoes on feet at their highest value and at the same time create opportunity and comfort for communities around the world.”
Sole mates: How Crocs and Soles4Souls collaborate for good
After piloting the ‘Old Crocs. New Life.’ takeback program in 2023 in the U.S., Crocs chose Soles4Souls to help expand the initiative.
Customers can drop off shoes at Crocs retail and outlet stores in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Canada, or request a free mail-back kit online (U.S. only). All participants get a 10% discount toward their next purchase (15% in Europe). Shoes are then sorted to keep their highest possible value, and those with life left to live are sent by Crocs’ logistics teams to Soles4Souls for processing.
Soles4Souls is also helping Crocs extend the lifetime of additional product, including:
- Sales samples
- Creative production samples (i.e. marketing photography usage etc)
- Customer returns that are unsellable/gently used but wearable
- Aged inventory
- Imperfect shoes/manufacturing errors
"Expanding Crocs’ circularity efforts and takeback program posed some logistical challenges. We wanted to make sure we had local partners on the ground in each region, reduced the environmental impact of moving the shoes once we took them back, and ensured donations supported local communities as much as possible. We were able to solve all these challenges by collaborating with Soles4Souls. They’re a partner that brings the expertise to address the needs and intricacies of a footwear company.
At Soles4Souls, we direct these donations to our 4Opportunity program, where we work with a network of entrepreneurs in developing countries to launch and sustain their own small businesses.
Through selling shoes and clothing alone, the average 4Opportunity entrepreneur increases their household income by 233% each year. More than nine in ten can either purchase a home or save toward homeownership, while 87% can improve their children’s education, and 92% can boost their families’ health and nutrition. Many even hire others in their communities, broadening the circle of opportunity.
Impact in action: How Crocs measures circularity success
Alongside achieving real social impact, Crocs’ partnership with Soles4Souls also drives tangible business outcomes. For Crocs, the partnership has helped address core business needs of waste, overages, and consumerism, and turn this risk into opportunity. The brand tracks the number of shoes through each collection method, as well as the shoes donated to Soles4Souls. The percentage of donated vs. recycled shoes is then used to monitor business impact and can be leading indicators of the circularity program’s success.
So, what’s next for Crocs x Soles4Souls? Quite a lot, in fact.
Soles4Souls will support the Crocs evolution and expansion of consumer takeback programs across Europe, Asia, and beyond. Through product design, end-of-life solutions, and customer collaboration, we’ll play a significant role in scaling circularity and bringing the Crocs Ambition to create ‘Comfort For The Planet’ to life. You can get involved, too.
Customers and employees love brands with a soul
At Souls4Souls, we work with all types of businesses to create opportunity for people through shoes and clothing. Through sorting, grading, reselling, repurposing, repairing, and recycling, we extend the life of your products to maximize their impact while reducing environmental waste. You don’t even have to be in fashion to support us; companies in sectors from e-commerce to financial services regularly donate their time, funds, skills, and resources to help our mission.
Working with Soles4Souls makes a real difference to the world—and your bottom line. 86% of our partners said working with Soles4Souls helps them solve a business need, and 96% would recommend partnering with us.
Partnerships only work if they are collaborative and truly create shared value. My advice would be to find those sweet spots - those intersections of purpose, values, and goals, and build a strong relationship for collaboration and innovation. Ensure your partnerships serve a need, and they’ll seamlessly integrate into your business, sustainability, and impact strategy.”
If you’re a business interested in donating to and partnering with Soles4Souls, please email corporate@soles4souls.org.
