While Caval launched on June 13 its first vegan sneakers, let’s talk with Achille Gazagnes, CEO of this mismatched shoe brand, betting on the difference of an eco-responsible manufacturing made in Europe.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Le Boudoir Numérique : Why a mismatched sneaker brand ?

Achille Gazagnes, CEO and cofounder of Caval : Since I was a child, I wear mismatched sneakers. I buy two identical pairs, in different colors and I exchange them to create color schemes. When I was following my business training at HEC, I met a designer from the Esmod fashion school, Benoit HabFast, our future artistic director who, seduced by my mismatched shoes, wanted to create a concept of sneakers whose asymmetrical shapes would define the way in which the two shoes interact with each other. Excited by his idea, I embarked on the adventure a friend who was studying with me, Simon De Swarte and Caval was born, two years ago. Our collection includes three models : Vincent & Mia, with a transversal band cutting the sneaker in half, Korben & Leloo with two asymmetrical double bands and Bonnie & Clyde, with two asymmetrical triangles. Our brand values derive from this concept of mismatched sneakers, based on difference, difference in the manufacture of our sneakers and the materials used, respect for the difference of others by our commitment to Handicap International, association to which we donate money with each pair purchased.

Your manufacturing is different, because it’s 100% European ?

One should know that 95% of sneakers in the world are made in countries of Southeast Asia. At each stage of our production, we ask ourselves this question : how can we work differently from the others, by manufacturing in Europe, with eco-responsible materials from Europe and traced in all transparency ? And when I say made in Europe, I can even reduce it locally to France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. So our design is French. Our sneakers are made in our workshop in Portugal, the country where our 40% recycled soles also come from. Our leathers come from Italian tanneries and our shoe laces are also made there with 100% organic Italian cotton. The fabrics of our sneakers are made in 100% organic Spanish cotton. The idea is to have a 100% European production. We don’t want to use leather from Nigeria, Pakistan or China, where the breeding conditions are catastrophic or Pakistani or Indian cotton that would be exported to Italy only to be woven for our laces. Our cotton is grown and woven in Italy. The animals are bred in Italian tanneries, from which we buy our leathers and which, moreover, tan leather without chrome, with vegetable tannins. All of this is more expensive but each time, we are careful to make choices that go in the direction of eco-responsibility.

Caval sneakers in apple leather, launched June 13, 2020 (© Caval)

Like pre-order, too?

We are working with a hybrid model and I think we are the only brand to do so. There are two ways to buy a pair of Caval on our website. Either, you buy the pair in stock and you pay it at the fixed price. Either, you pre-order it. In this case, you will have to wait two months to receive it, but you will receive a reduction of 25 euros. Pre-ordering is automatic when we launch a new model, like our Bonnie & Clyde in April. There were only pre-orders, no stock. This system allows us to manufacture to order and to have exact productions, knowing which colors, for example, will work best and to avoid the overstock of a collection that we would be obliged to sell at a discount to get rid of. It also allows us to be independent, since we do not need too much funds to finance our activity. No overproduction, no waste, for us, pre-order is an ideal system.

You launched, on June 13, your first apple skin sneakers, with a PETA-Approved Vegan certification. Why a vegan shoe ?

Even if we manage to use the most eco-responsible leathers, this material remains very polluting. So we had to find an alternative to leather, especially since it was a strong demand from our customers. It also makes sense with our personal lives, as Simon De Swarte and I are vegetarians. Our apple leather Caval is made of a material from the Italian company Frumat, the Pellemela, composed of 40% recycled apple fibers from the Tyrol region and 60% recycled polyurethane. For us, this new vegan and traceable material represents another step towards a sustainable and circular fashion, aiming to fight against animal exploitation, in the respect of sentient beings. Obviously, there are still things to improve, polyurethane being a derivative of plastic but it is present in much smaller proportions than in other imitation leathers which, in fact, are entirely composed of plastic. Apple leather is the most eco-friendly leather substitute we have found yet, but we are obviously continuing our search.

Is innovation important to you ? Would you like to invest in the research of new materials ?

Innovative materials are fundamental for us but we do not have the means to do R&D in materials and i’s not our job to do so. Our role is rather to support innovation, as we did with Frumat. We test many things, especially with our suppliers, whose initiatives we support. Latest, that of Bolflex, our soles manufacturer in Portugal, who has devised a new way of recycling Caval shoes, by crushing them and adding rubber to them, to make soles. The tests being conclusive, we will launch this circular project next September.

In your opinion, has the Covid-19 crisis led to a change in mentality among consumers, now inclined to a more thoughtful, more eco-responsible act of purchase ?

We already felt a tendency to search for products made in France or Europe, but it accelerated with the Coronavirus pandemic. The mask crisis, for example, highlighted our textile dependence on countries like China, which transformed mentalities. For our part, we will launch, at the beginning of next year, a line of sneakers made in France to meet this consumer demand for local manufacturing. There is also a lot of educational work to be done on the traceability of the materials used. It's good to use made in France products but what is the exact origin of the materials ? Consumers will have to learn to pay attention to labels and accreditations, such as GOTS organic textile certification, for example. We will also provide, shortly, on our website, the possibility of knowing all the accreditations of our suppliers.

How do you see the future of your brand ?

We are starting to be well established in France and we want to develop in Europe, especially in Germany and England. We also want to strengthen the brand's universe by opening our own stores. At the moment, we are working with resellers and opening a limited network of flagships would allow us to share the spirit of Caval in physics with our customers. As we cherish the project of a shoe recycling center, a Parisian boutique could play the role of collecting point. Last October, we won a competition from the Unibail-Rodamco real estate group which offers us the possibility of opening a boutique in one of their shopping centers in France. This is what we will likely do in the second half of 2021.

* The Caval apple leather collection, in 4 unisex colors, is available for pre-order since June 13 on Caval website here. In September, it will be sold in Le Bon Marché in Paris with a new color celebrating this collaboration.

* To learn more about the PETA-Approved Vegan label and the list of brands that are part of this program, it's here.

* Continue reading with these following Boudoir Numérique papers :

- PETA - "Technology can help end the exploitation of animals for fashion"

- "Disrupt leather industry with a respectful and innovative alternative"

- UGG unveils its heat activated CA805 sneakers

- Rihanna awarded by PETA for her Fenty faux leather collection