Description

Ethical Choice is a Portuguese manufacturer of footwear, accessories and other articles made from surpluses. The companies uses surpluses from the footwear, cork and textiles industries and develops products such as espadrilhes, sandals, slippers, bags, backpacks, wallets, pencil holders, amongst others.

These articles combine several advantages: using fabric, footwear and cork surpluses which would otherwise have been considered waste; produce new products with great durability and meet the needs of a well-informed target group, which is conscious about their consumption habits – consumers who give preference to products with lower ecological impact, cruelty- and animal-free.

The surpluses are sourced from two companies: Confeções Lion Jean Lda in Barcelos and Origine Lda in Matosinhos, which have 100 and 21 employees respectively. The design and cutting of Ethical Choice’s products are carried out by Origine, the manufacture of the footwear is carried out by Valdemar Moreira in Santa Maria da Feira, and the manufacture of small accessories (bags, wallets, cases, etc. ) by two craftsmen in Oliveira de Azemeis.

The 20,000€ will be used to purchase a thermical printing machine, a laser cutting and engraving machine and to register the brand. The machines will be installed at Origine’s factory in Matosinhos which currently produces the products by hand.

The Impact

Direct:

• Transform surpluses into new products: the products to be sold by Ethical Choice are only produced from surpluses resulting from other companies' productions, including fabrics, EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate, used to produce footwear), among others. The company has partnered with manufacturers, having secured between 2,500 and 3,000 kilograms of denim fabric and others such as canvas, preventing these from being thrown away.
• Sustainable delivery and packaging: Ethical Choice is developing and growing fast, and its main goal is to sell directly to the public. But while it is still growing, it sells its products to shop and distributors, these being delivered in cardboard boxes and the items wrapped in protective paper. For direct sales, the company is developing bags made from fabric surpluses for packing shoes and backpacks. The remaining articles will be packed in paper bags.

Indirect:

• Promoting sustainable production: in the production of its products, Ethical Choice does not use any sort of plastic nor materials from animal production. The shoe soles are made from EVA surpluses (used in traditional footwear production) to which an aqueous basic additive is added. The zippers used on the backpacks and cases are made from metal. The shoe’s soles and insoles are made by and bought to Portuguese factories. The re-using of the surpluses and processing of new products does not include any cleaning process (usually manual) and the application of the interlining fabric does not use water nor any chemical products.

Contribution to the Sustainable
Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals

Financial viability

Download Key Investment Information Sheet

Guarantees

Pledge of the installed equipment and personal guarantee from the main shareholder.

The Promoter

About Ethical Choice, Unipessoal Lda

Ethical Choice was born in 2021 in the district of Porto. They planned to grow as a benchmark company in the market for the reuse of waste, particularly footwear and textiles.

In addition to using fabric, footwear, and cork waste that was going to waste, the Portuguese brand's products responded to consumers concerned about their ecological footprint, impact on the economy, and animal welfare, as they were cruelty-free and of non-animal origin.

Since 2022, the company has completely changed its focus. Ethical Choice currently manages properties in Portugal and Germany for tourism purposes. In Portugal, it manages two apartments in the city of Guarda and a 14-bedroom villa in Fornos de Algodres. In Germany, through its subsidiary Ethical Choice Germany GmbH, the company operates a 15-room building and 7 apartments in the city of Kaiserslautern and is in the process of expanding to Munich, where it manages 3 apartments.

The team

Francisco Miranda

Founder

Francisco Miranda, the company’s founder, has a Business Management degree and began his career in several industries. He was later hired as a technician by the formed Fonseca and Burnay Bank where he worked for about five years, later to become a manager and regional director the Pinto & Sotto Mayor Bank where he stayed for seven years. He later worked for several companies: Sociedade Imobiliária Agrodomus S.A., Sociedade Agrícola Quinta da Romaneira S.A. and Pri Lda. He was in Argelia, developing a comercial project, and back in Portugal in 2015, working as a consultant and commercial agent.

Business Model

Updates