SHE CREATED SUSTAINABLE SHOES WITH PORTUGALITY TOUCHES

Recycled soles, biodegradable leather or cork are part of the footwear brand Marita Moreno, which exposes the creations in Lourosa.

It is like carrying the Portuguese culture on the feet, sometimes with textiles from the traditional quilts of Terceira Island, sometimes with the Portuguese sidewalk pattern. But more than carrying tradition, these shoes are ecological and sustainable. It is called "Marita Moreno" the brand created by Marita Setas Ferro, who "stole" her great grandfathers’ nickname for the project that changed his life already after 40.

Recycled soles, biodegradable leather, cork, natural rubber, even banana peel or pineapple fibers get into Marita's shoes, which can be seen live in Lourosa's showroom, in Santa Maria da Feira. The sculptor stopped teaching fashion design to launch her own collections of shoes and bags. "And the sustainability of the brand is not only in materials, the whole concept is sustainable, even by the very limited production," she explains. It produces 100 numbered copies of each model in Portuguese factories, always using national materials. "And I work with craftsmen. With hand-painted textiles or lace," she observes.

She chose to produce shoes thanks to her passion for sculpture. "They are three-dimensional objects," she says. And the patterns do not leave doubt as to where the brand comes from. "They are linked to the Portuguese culture. In the first collection, in 2015, I used handmade linen and leather with a representation of the Portuguese sidewalk. Even today I sell them and the foreigners love it”. She also made a version linked to the Azores, "with the quilts textile of the island Terceira".

Marita also has a vegan line, with no leathers, only microfibers. But she explains that it is not yet possible to be 100% ecological in shoes. "To ensure durability, I can’t use only natural rubber, otherwise the heat eventually stretches or melts. And there are no water-based glues to ensure an effective collage”, she justifies.

The showroom she has in Lourosa is full of pairs for man and woman, which end up never seeing the daylight, because she produces to the scale of the orders. The space already holds six collections of timeless pieces, "so there is no waste and you can always sell”. And she sells almost everywhere in the world, so that between 2017 and 2018 she increased sales by 600%, especially in exports. The brand is n Milan, Paris or Los Angeles. Now she wants to turn to Portugal. "Because there is opportunity. In the last year there was a great opening for sustainability". She already has shoes in concept stores in Porto, Lisbon, Bragança, Coimbra, Trofa or Vila do Conde. And she warns: "Sustainable is the only way, there is no other option," she concludes.