LONDON — Nicholas Kirkwood is shutting his luxury business, moving onto greener pastures and a new, more sustainable approach to footwear.
The designer, who’s been on a mission to find more sustainable methods of shoe production, recycling and disposal, said this week his signature brand had “run its course, for now.”
He said his passion for finding “viable, planet-positive solutions for the intensely un-planet-positive footwear industry” led him to shut the brand, and to move on. His final collection was for fall 2022.
Kirkwood’s new venture will encompass “next-generation green manufacturing” and much of the material technology research he’s been doing over the last few years. “I hope it will go some way toward a carbon-neutral future,” he said.
Related Galleries
In an interview on Friday, Kirkwood said he was keen to start afresh and apply his newfound knowledge and experience to his new venture.
“I’ve been dreaming up a new concept, and I knew it would not work with my current business model,” the designer said.
“I have more to offer than flat, pointy loafers,” Kirkwood added. “I want to put a different vision forward, make a bold move, and I’m lucky to be in a position to do so.”
Kirkwood said that, going forward, he’ll be speaking to a whole new audience and inspiring others “to move this industry into the 21st century.”
A Central Saint Martins’ graduate, Kirkwood launched his brand in 2005 and quickly became known for his distinctive, architectural styles and embellished, sculptural heels.
Over the years, he began using unconventional materials and techniques that marry traditional crafts with cutting-edge technology, and looking at more sustainable ways of sourcing, manufacturing and disposing of footwear.
At the Fairchild Media Sustainability Forum last May, Kirkwood addressed those issues and said the luxury industry needs a “radical rethink of designing shoes for an afterlife.”
“[Designers] are perpetuated to [create and produce], we just need more, new and everything. And ultimately, with the speed of that development, you can’t refine the product enough to be to be able to solve many of these issues,” he said.
On Friday, Kirkwood said he needed to start again because no matter how many sustainability-driven changes he made, “I was still part of the problem, and I couldn’t make a big enough impact,” with the business as it was.
He said he’s still in a research and development phase with the new business, and declined to give further details.
In 2020, Kirkwood told WWD his dream was to make luxury footwear entirely from plant-based, food industry waste.
“It’s a pipe dream, but there’s a very strong chance the technology will go there. A lot of it is there already,” said the designer, who was hoping to ply cactus, bamboo or apple-core waste into leathers that could match the quality and aesthetics of calfskin.
To mark Earth Day in 2021, he launched the Beya Second Life Project, which saw customers trade in their pointy-toe Beyas styles — no matter how old they were — online, and receive credit against their next purchase.
Kirkwood’s company dismantled the old shoes, composted some of the pieces and recycled others. He also tapped into his network of artists and creatives to upcycle some of the components, giving them a second life.
He noted that manufacturing shoes involves lots of unnecessary waste, and relies on chemicals, glues, raw materials and processes that are damaging to the environment.
At the other end of the spectrum, old, worn-out shoes are difficult to recycle as they are made up multiple components, many of which are plastic. That’s why they tend to end up in landfills.
As reported, some 80 percent of Kirkwood’s spring 2021 collection was made with “conscious, low-impact materials,” such as Nature-L leather, and woven hemp. The company said 100 percent of that collection used one or more sustainable internal components.
Spring 2021 was also the first time the shoes’ uppers were made from fully biodegradable materials, such as organic silk, wool, hemp, suede and napa leather. The shoes also had recycled soles and biodegradable linings, which Kirkwood had used in past designs.
In the past, Kirkwood has also designed his Beya using recycled denim and leather uppers that underwent a toxin-free, chrome tanning process, while insoles for that collection were created with 100 percent recycled carton cardboard.
The shoes’ leather-covered block heels were made of ontano wood, which can be dried naturally rather than with chemicals.
Kirkwood shifted his environmental plans into high gear after parting ways with his former owners LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2020.
LVMH had acquired a majority stake in the business in 2013 and, as reported, the two parties parted ways mutually and amicably.