The idea to manufacture shoes for women that are serene without losing the aesthetic values lead to the creation of Earthies shoes. In an effort to fuse the goodness of yoga to the art of shoe making, Anne Kalso spent a decade perfecting her craft and developed the Earthies shoes. Holding on true to their motto of providing the most comfortable footwear for you, they have come a long way to be one of the most successful brands from across the world.
History
The founder of Earthies, Anne Kalso was born in 1905 in the Faroe Islands off the coast of Denmark. Since a child, she found particular interest in yoga and the principles associated with it. She was in a constant search for ways to fuse the wellness of these principles into the daily lives of individuals.
Her interest in yoga led her to make a move to Switzerland and study there. And from there she went to the city of Santos in Brazil and settled there. It is at that point of time, in the year of 1957, she began so see a pattern among the native Brazilians that they have excellent postures. She also observed that the footprints they left in the sand in the beaches had the heels part immersed deeper compared to the toes. She was inspired by this and started to follow the pattern and realized her own posture was getting better and the whole process helping her bettering the way she breathed.
Even though she was not a shoemaker, once she was back to Denmark, she took up the opportunity to help a Portuguese shoemaker. This turned out to be a decade-long process which led the way for her to develop the Kalso shoes – which in later years branched out to be the Earthies. During this time, she used to test a number of prototypes on herself by hiking for hundreds of miles wearing the shoes. All this shaped up to give her a better understanding of the art of shoemaking.
In the early 1960s, she began selling the shoes she made at an outlet in Copenhagen. It was a small store as she did not expect the shoes to be a favorite among the customer. But soon enough, she began to notice from the customers that the shoes had a lot of benefits from reducing chronic body and foot issues. This lead to the increase in popularity of the shoes and people from around the globe started inquiring about the shoes. But Kalso still did not want to expand for the reason that she wanted them to have the in-person experience before wearing the shoes. It was not until mid-1960s Kalso agreed to the idea of expansion from Denmark to the other parts of the world. Especially in The United States, the shoes became really popular due to the benefits associated with it.
This marked the beginning of an era in the footwear business with the introduction of Kalso shoes in the global market. The first distribution point of Kalso in The United States was opened on the 1st of April 1970, opening up a different variety of product to choose from for the Americans. As the day coincided with the Earth Day, the decision was made in the moment to change the name of the shoes to Kalso Earth Shoes. The “in the moment” decision helped to combine the Earth Day’s energy and youthfulness into the brand. A lot of credit should be given to Anne Kalso’s Danish yoga teacher who inspired her to opt this path, resulting in providing the world with such an amazing product.
Fashion and Manufacturing
They have been doing their best to give back to the planet while providing us with some of the greatest products. The Earthies are one of the most comfortable footwear you can every get you foot in. Individual Earthies footwear sports their own unique molded footbed. Taken from her experience in Brazil, the footwear are modeled in a way that most of the body weight is distributed away from the toes and towards the heels to make it more comfortable and also to help with the posture.
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The heels are made of three layers – padded heel, leather lining and latex foam cushion. The microfiber lining and the latex foam cushion provides comfort to the toes. The latex foam cushions the steps by reducing shock, the microfiber lining takes away the moisture, the leather lining helps the foot to breathe by making it position comfortable, and the padded heel gives an extra cushion. Available in a lot of categories ranging from sandals, casual shoes, flats, boots, heels and more, Earthies provides women with the most comfortable footwear you can ever ask for.
Emphasizing on caring about the planet, Earthies shoes are made taking into consideration all the aspects that help in improving the conditions of the planet. The company use Sole Technology, which concentrates on giving back to the environment with each step they take. With the goal to make the planet carbon neutral by the year 2020, Sole Technology has come a long way to be a revolution in the field of environmental welfare.
From the energy source to water and the bags they use, it is all designed to give back to the environment. They use solar panels to provide energy for a large portion of the footwear manufacturing industry, which has helped in reducing the carbon footprint by fourteen percent. With efficient watering systems, they have managed to reduce water usage by thirty-five percent. And about sixty percent of the waste produced by the company is recycled.
The legacy of Anne Kalso will continue for generations not only because of the Earth brand but also through the valuable lesson she taught us about fusing the good things to make something great. The reason why the footwear is positively received is because of the value it adds to our life by helping us in different ways. Supporting the brand not only helps the production, but also the environment. So make sure to do your part by trying out the footwear all the while giving back to our planet.
