Hamburg -based company produces shoes from used sails

Hamburg.Sometimes Sabine Moormann wonders whether she would have become an entrepreneur without her passion for sailing.If there were no mountains of old sails of their wooden boat "Nanuk" in the container in front of their winter camp.Would she also sell sports shoes from recycled canvas today?Sabine Moormann shrugs his shoulders."I wanted to do something of my own," says the Hamburg native, who worked in different management positions in the shop with shoes and accessories in different management positions.It should also be sustainable.

"And then my husband had the idea on a sailing trip how it turns into a shoe."Sabine Moormann has to laugh at the saying himself, but he really fits.Bags from reused sails, jackets and even lampshades have been around for a long time.But no shoes.In 2018 she founded her company 8 BEUFORT - based on the international scale for the division of wind strength.It is quite stormy with wind force 8.

Of course, the new shoe brand got a lot of headwind, but now the business is running.Last year the 49-year-old even made a little profit.Now she is sitting in a shop in Ottensen.The new collection has just arrived.There are five different models in the shop window that show that sustainably can also be quite stylish: puristic white sneakers with and without colored applications for women and men.

Sneaker made of recycled canvas

There is ankle -high variants with more color, so -called high top sneakers."Galapagos Island" has a natural rubber sole, there is also a completely vegan shoe.There are high shelves with boxes on the walls.On a large wooden table in the middle of the room there are parts of decommissioned sails that were used on flatbread ships and wooden boats in the wadding sizes of the North Sea and in the English Channel and which are now being cut for further processing.

At the moment, the shoe retailer is still sharing the sales area with a start-up that offers shower gel and household cleaner for refilling..

Real estate newsletter for Hamburg

Bleiben sie auf dem Laufenden rund um die Themen Immobilien, Wohnen & Stadtentwicklung

At the start three years ago, Sabine Moormann started with a single model.Together with a shoe designer, she developed the first prototype of her brand."We wanted a shoe that looks good, is comfortable and sustainable," says the founder.Something towards sneakers, but a product that also works as a sailing shoe on the ship.The result is "Anuta Island".

On the scale of the commercially available white sneakers, a high-end model, lined with natural leather, insole made of natural latex and with a non-slip white sole made of recycled plastic."We were not sure whether the dealers accept canvas as a material for shoes," says Sabine Moormann about the test run.The response was positive.At a producer in Portugal, she commissioned the first 1000 pair of 8 BEUFORT shoes for spring 2019.

Sustainability is trendy among young people

The procurement of the canvas manages them.First of all from their own stocks, about friends and acquaintances, sometimes also on eBay."The polyester material is extremely tear-resistant and therefore well suited for shoes," says boss.However, there are also a lot of committee, metal parts, sailing numbers and spotty areas in the used sails."As a rule, 40 percent of a sail can be recyclable."In the meantime, she is also looking for used sailing internationally.

There are no precise information on how much less the environment is burdened by the canvas sneakers.The fact is that brands with sustainable image such as Vega, Bleed or N’GO beyond the big sports companies such as Nike or Adidas are trendy with many young people.Sabine Moormann is calculating plus points."The reuse of material is always the best variant for CO2 consumption," she says.

Already in the first year the paragraph ran better than expected."We had to reorder."For 2020, the entrepreneur had increased the number of models to three and doubled the order quantity to 2500 couples.80.000 euros production costs were due.A risk that she financed from her reserves.Just when the shoes were delivered last spring, the first lockdown came."It was a shock," says Sabine Moormann.To save costs, she moved from her office to the camp in Stellingen.Next, she built the online shop (8 -step location.hamburg) aus, in den sie auch ihre Händler einband, Hamburg Brogue in der Neustadt, Küstensilber in der HafenCity oder auch den Segelausrüster Steinmetz & Hehl.

The new sole consists of microplastics from the sea

"Overall, I finally got through the year well," says the founder, who has so far managed the company with some freelancers.Some of their models were sold out in size - despite prices between 119 and 189 euros.Even the interest of two investors had aroused Sabine Moormann with her sense of shoes.She rejected - and the order quantity for this year increased significantly to 6000 couples.The fact that the shoes are now there is anything but a matter of course.In autumn, her producer in Portugal had filed for bankruptcy in the course of the Corona crisis."I've spent the past few months to find a new manufacturer."

It worked and the sale of the new seasonal goods is going on - again in the lockdown.Moormann now sees it quite calmly.She has just won an important customer with a larger natural fashion mail order company. „Der Verkauf läuft nach Plan", sagt die Unternehmerin. Auch vor dem Schaufenster in Ottensen stehen immer wieder Kunden, die oft über Click & Collect oder im Internet auch kaufen.This year Moormann wants to double the sales.In the meantime there are also several pocket models from 8 BEUFOOR and a sailing hat.In order to bring more color into the range, Sabine Moormann has now opened another source of raw materials: a manufacturer of rescue vests from Holm in the Pinneberg district.

And there are already concrete plans for winter.For the first time there should be a boot. „Wir sind immer auf der Suche nach neuen Materialien", sagt Sabine Moormann und holt ein Muster.The canvas is not suitable for winter, so it uses recycled jersey.She is particularly proud of the colorfully speckled sole. „Das sind Plastikabfälle aus dem Ozean, die wir bei uns wiederverwenden", sagt Sabine Moormann.

More articles from this section can be found here: Economy