EcoZeal

What happens when a bunch of investment bankers wake up and realize they could be using their financial and entrepreneurial skills to improve the lives of lots more people than just their corporate cronies?

From Corporate to Compassionate

In the case of Iris Chau (former Vice President of Equity Research technology at JPMorganChase), Stephen Chen (former Vice President of Business Strategy at Bear Stearns) and Lyel Resner (former Emerging Markets analyst for Deutsche Bank), along with former attorney Alastair Onglingswan, the answer is shoes! The team bailed out of the corporate world to form Green Soul Shoes, with the mission of providing work and footwear to the developing world (and attractive sandals for the rest of us) in an environmentally responsible way.

Green Soul Shoes teaches artisans in impoverished areas of the world to make 100% recycled sandals from scrap tires. For every pair of shoes sold, one is donated to a needy child who would otherwise go barefoot.

Barefoot Children

The company has its roots in a personal story. On a trip to the Philippines, Alastair Onglingswan ventured away from his usual swanky haunts and into the Manila slums. There he witnessed swarms of children, whose daily task was to rummage through huge piles of garbage at the dump, gleaning whatever they could use or sell. None of the children wore shoes, despite the constant danger of serious cuts and puncture wounds from nails, insulin needles, glass and other debris.

Shocked, Onglingswan vowed to do something to help these kids and others like them in slums and shantytowns throughout the underdeveloped world. By partnering with the other members of the Green Soul Shoe team, he’s finding a way.

Sandals are the Solution

Despite their humble origins, the sandals are surprisingly sophisticated-looking. Their open-backed, adjustable double-criss-cross strap design is suitable for casual wear for both men and women.

There are 300 million kids in the world without proper protection for their feet. Green Soul Shoe’s mission is to get shoes for at least a million of them within 5 years. Production will begin soon. If you’re interested in taking part, reserve your own pair today by leaving your contact information and shoe size on their site.  But don’t delay – they can only deliver as fast as their artisans can make them!

Thanks to Green Soul Shoes, children forced to eke a living from trash piles will be protected from dangerous cuts to their feet.