Legero United, the umbrella company of the Superfit, Legero and Think! brands, has been honoured with a German Innovation Award for its sustainability work and its aims to be net zero carbon by 2030.
The prize was presented at an exclusive event at the Futurium in Berlin at the end of May.
The Austrian shoe manufacturer has already played a pioneering role when it comes to sustainability in the shoe manufacturing industry for many years. The company focuses extensively on the sustainability of its collections as part of its strategy and consistently pursues this aspect further with a number of measures along the entire value creation chain.
Legero United has set up a carbon eco-database and this has been honoured in the ‘Excellence in Business to Business – Information Technologies’ category. This database shows the environmental performance at the product level of each of the more than 3,500 products it manufactures annually. It makes it possible to calculate the carbon footprint of each individual shoe in advance for every new design, which can then be reduced in a targeted way with respective measures without the need for the manufacture of a prototype.
“We are currently digitising the entire design and sample production of our collections,” said Stefan Stolitzka, Owner and CEO of Legero United. “Our designers can then compare all design versions with the aid of innovative 3D technologies in real time, and manage and reduce the carbon footprint of each design according to clearly set targets.
“This 3D technology also helps us to use considerably fewer material and transport resources. All this contributes to a targeted, predictable reduction of our carbon footprint and makes a significant contribution to solving the climate crisis.”
The Austrian shoe manufacturer bundles its ambitious and trailblazing sustainability initiatives, such as the in-house development platform for sustainable materials, VIOS, which it already established as long ago as in 2013, in the ‘Legero United Sustainability Agenda’, or ‘LUNA’ for short.
The company also participates in numerous industry and environmental protection initiatives, first and foremost the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), which it committed to in 2021. Legero United also uses the industry-leading Higg Index, which shows the sustainability of products along the entire supply chain.
In addition, for the manufacture of its collections, the company preferably cooperates with leather suppliers that are Leather Working Group (LWG, which defines global standards for the leather industry and certified tanneries) Gold and Silver certified.
Legero United develops all of the designs for its brands Superfit, Legero and Think! in-house and manufactures the majority of these in its own production facilities. The company is therefore in control of the entire value creation chain – from design to manufacturing and marketing.
