Schuh x Are You Mad: Reinventing Retail with Recycled Waste

In a groundbreaking initiative for sustainability in the fashion footwear industry, leading retailer schuh has joined forces with London-based Waste Design Studio, Are You Mad, to repurpose post-consumer waste into innovative and functional store fixtures. This pioneering partnership highlights Schuh’s commitment to minimising waste and fostering a circular economy, turning discarded materials into donation bins and unique product display risers.

Schuh’s sustainability ethos is at the core of this collaboration. Through its ‘Sell Your Soles’ initiative, the retailer has been encouraging customers to donate their unwanted shoes in exchange for a voucher, ensuring that footwear gets a second life. Now, by working with Are You Mad, schuh is taking its sustainability efforts to the next level, transforming waste materials such as old shoes, returns bags, and pallet wrap into practical and visually striking store elements.

Are You Mad’s Certified Wastemen: The in-house team meticulously dissected and deconstructed over 600 pre-loved shoes at their East London studio, preparing them for repurposing.

Helen Kirkum: A renowned British footwear designer specializing in sustainability, Helen reassembled these deconstructed shoes into colorful, textured panels, which form the basis of the donation bins.

Charlie Boyden: A British furniture artist, Charlie took Helen’s panels and integrated them into ten handmade donation bins, constructed using recycled plastic components such as polystyrene.

Weez & Merl: This Brighton-based studio crafted the shoe risers using 2.5kg of recycled LDPE plastic derived from schuh’s discarded pallet wraps and returns bags. Each riser features a unique marbled design, ensuring that no two pieces are identical.

The newly designed donation bins and shoe risers are now installed in select schuh stores across the UK and Ireland, including Oxford Circus, Stratford, Westfield White City, Bristol, Manchester Market Street, Metro, Belfast, Newcastle, Liverpool ONE, and Glasgow Fort.

Schuh’s partnership with Are You Mad is just the beginning. With sustainability at the forefront of its business strategy, the retailer plans to continue finding creative ways to reduce waste and inspire customers to make eco-conscious choices. By transforming post-consumer waste into store fixtures, schuh is setting a precedent for other retailers to follow—proving that sustainability and creativity can go hand in hand.