Mats Rombaut releases biodegradable gender-neutral sneaker heels

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Posted 8 November, 2019

By Sofia Phillips

London, UK

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Mats Rombaut has done it again, making biodegradable gender-neutral sneaker heels with sustainability and inclusivity at the core of their design.

Mats Rombaut is no stranger to thinking outside of the box when it comes to designing footwear. This year, he’s dropped padlocked sneakers and lettuce slides amidst a wide range of vegan shoes, targeting ‘a new conscious generation around the world’ (according to his website). Modernising mindsets and protecting environmental biodiversity is at the heart of his work, which aims to be totally eco-friendly by using innovative plant-based materials to create each product.

Taking things a step further this time around, Rombaut has added gender neutrality and size inclusivity to his eponymous brand with the Dysmorphia collection, which fuses the high heel with an orthopaedic sole and comes in large sizes for men. Fittingly debuted at a climate change protest-presentation in Paris, the ‘ugly shoe’ hybrids range from utilitarian-esque sandals to thigh-high velvet boots in colours that represent a geological heat map, and all are made from Apinat Bio, a compostable thermoplastic. Linear ‘80s robotic grooves line the elastane sneaker soles that are impaled with a thin metal stiletto heel and a technical mesh or romantic printed velvet on the upper.

‘Humans are animals too,’ he says, envisioning his shoes as a space for everyone to be free and feel as though they can express themselves. ‘We just think we’re different and more advanced. But I make shoes for humans, and it doesn’t matter which gender, colour, or shape you are. Heels are typically linked to female dressing, but we make them in both small and big sizes.’

The slow merge between heels and sneakers can be attributed to the changing definition of what constitutes masculine and feminine dressing. We should always be able to wear whatever we want, and Rombaut agrees. ‘As with clothes, certain shoe styles are very stereotypical for certain subcultures, or you associate them with certain people – the Dysmorphia collection is for everyone,’ he says.

With leather officially deemed ‘the most unsustainable material of all commonly used fashion materials’ by the Pulse of the Fashion Industry in a 2017 report, vegan footwear is definitely the way forward. However, Rombaut acknowledges the environmental issues associated with using plastic as an alternative and takes his role as a designer in the context of the ecological crisis incredibly seriously.

‘It’s no secret I feel pain just from existing in today’s world. Maybe that’s what attracts me to medical footwear, a sense of healing. The fashion world can use a lot of improvement. I put all my hope on the biochemists, material engineers, and developers to come up with man-made materials that leave no trace behind,’ he told Vogue.

Constantly going out of his way to communicate this environmental message, Rombaut has been striving to produce the most sustainable shoe to ever exist as our climate anxiety increases. His desire to create shoes that ‘don’t pollute the planet as much or rely on animal agriculture and death’ has grown into a full-blown dedication to finding the perfect vegan leather alternative that’s as harmless for the planet as possible and focuses on using technology to do so. ‘I feel like I’m just at the beginning of what I want to do,’ he says. ‘But it depends on how fast technology goes and whether I can afford it or have to find other ways,’ he says.

Sofia Phillips

Feature Media Manager & Senior Writer London, UK

Sofia (She/Her) – I’m the Feature Media Manager and a Senior Writer at Thred, specialising in exclusive articles and live interviews, fashion and beauty with a focus on sustainability, women’s rights, psychedelics, and Latin America. I studied Spanish at the University of Exeter and International Journalism at City, London. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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