While Patagonia footwear designer Les Horne spends most of his time thinking about making shoes, lately he’s also mulling over ways to break them down.

Patagonia's Les Horne

 “Moving forward, I think the big push is going to be the recyclability of shoes,” says Horne, who has been with the brand’s footwear division since its inception four years ago. “Everyone’s thinking about deconstruction.” But recycling isn’t the only green trend being mulled over by the longtime eco-centric brand. Here, Horne offers his take on what’s new and what’s next for the green shoe movement in an exclusive, extended interview previously published in the March issue of WSAToday.

What’s happening with your new fall ’09 collection? Can you describe it for us?
There’s a new women’s specific hiker, Bly, and we also supported our successful groups with Gore-Tex and waterproof versions. Ranger Smith already has a pretty aggressive outsole, but now we have the Cabbot and the Ranger Smith waterproof.

Maui Dew Mid

Is there a standout style?
To me, the Boaris Mid would be the standout product for us. It’s such a versatile shoe; it embodies everything we’re about. You can hit the trail and not worry about mucking it up and staining it, but it has enough lug to have grip uphill and downhill. Plus, you could still go out and have a beer in it. Everything we do is supposed to have a purpose first, and that shoe does it all.

What materials and colors did you work with?
We can get away with more color than most trail driven companies because of the snowboard and surf inspiration part of our brand. A lot of brands just have browns and blacks, while we have a vulcanized line that has salmon all the way to teal. I don’t see a lot of that elsewhere.

What’s important right now, in terms of green footwear and/or the green movement?
Recyclability. Right now, if you look at some of the other brands, the biggest problem that have in recycling is separation of the upper from the outsole. We started with an Outside In shoe, the premise being we’d fit into the Patagonia apparel Common Threads recycling program. We’re always going to be pushing the envelope when it comes to green. Right now we’re researching vegetable-based materials like corn and starch, but the benefits don’t outweigh the costs right now. We don’t want to make shoes that fall apart. We want to make shoes that last five years or 10 years instead of two or three. I think the economy is showing right now that people are taking durability into account. They aren’t wasting their money; they want shoes that last.

Boaris Mid Waterproof

Describe your customer to us.
Our core customers are really involved with blogging and looking up green Web sites like treehugger.com. From a marketing perspective, it’s such a grassroots operation. Our 100 percent guarantee and customer service goes a long way with our core customer.

What’s next in green footwear?
Easy disassembly for recycling. Recycled products like polyesters, which are one of the most easily recycled materials, are also becoming more important. Using raw goods from nature isn’t necessarily the eco-friendliest thing to do. Bamboo and hemp grow like weeds, but cotton destroys the earth it’s grown in if it’s not organic.

What’s in the works for fall ’10?
For fall ’10, I think we’re going to start targeting a younger consumer for women’s casual. It all comes down to styling and reaching that Southern California surfer girl who does everything outside. We’re also going to start introducing lightweight products.

If you could change something about the industry, what would it be?
I would love to see a lot of the manufacturing come back to the U.S. Where green goes out the window is in shipping. You’re also unable to keep the checks and balances as close to home as they should be. Recyclability becomes easier, too.

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