ABOUT OVERVIEW > RESPONSIBILITY

 

We believe in a world where diversity, equality, inclusion and a healthy environment are the baseline. In order to reach this belief we have to keep on bridging the gap.

We carry the responsibility on our shoulders to ensure our contribution to the world is positive. From that perspective we are always looking for alternatives which help, support and sustain the Filling Pieces universe.

“We have to be conscious about the impact of every decision we make and communicate this transparently, in all honesty to the members of the Filling Pieces universe”. ( statement made by FP)

683 represents the commitment from FILLING PIECES to be more environmentally responsible at all levels of the company.

This page is an explanation of our journey towards a better future and it starts with the process of questioning ourselves and assess where we stand in order to change the narrative.

If you want to know more click here or contact our customer service at support@fillingpieces.com

 

Timeline

As we are well aware of the fact that by no means we are a sustainable brand, we do feel it is important to openly and transparently share our position and projects that we are currently working on in our journey towards a better future.
2019 – Launch of the Filling Pieces responsibility program. In this program we aim to be conscious about the impact of every decision we make and communicate this transparently, in all honesty to the members of the Filling Pieces universe.
 
June 2019 – Hired a full-time responsibility manager
August 2019 – Our footwear packaging is now a 100% FCS certified
August 2019 – All of our flights are now compensated through our partner: www.myclimatechange.org
September 2019 – We have launched a project exploring the possibilities of recycling used Filling Pieces footwear.
September 2019 – Start of testing wet white leather, a chrome and metal free leather tanning method with fertilizer as the waste product.
September 2019 – Confirmation that none of our leathers originate from the Amazon biome
October 2019 – Started the elimination of all single use plastics. We expect to be single use plastic free in the fall of 2020.
November 2019 – Launch of our public responsibility page, ensuring we are fully transparent in all of our decision making and ongoing projects.

 

2020 – We expect to remove all of our single use plastics from our supply chain, to have found responsible alternatives within leather and expect to have made significant changes to our rubber soles. Moreover, our ready to wear signature line will transition to organic cotton and recycled nylons. Lastly, we aim to have launched our own recycling program before the end of the year.

HQ

Our headquarters is situated in a monumental building in the historic Amsterdam canal district. We have refitted the building to be more energy efficient whilst keeping the monument intact as much as possible.
 
Traveling:
Being aware of the pollution that traveling via air causes we try to minimise flights and only fly when other forms of transportation are not an option. We do offset our CO2 emissions by financially supporting green energy projects. As of October 2019 this is in effect.
Lastly, the central location of our headquarters allows our employees to travel to work either by bike or public transport.
 
Waste:
As people and as a company we obviously also produce waste. Currently we are already separating our waste streams and we are looking into several ways of repurposing waste. One of the things we are exploring is working with a company that recycles our paper waste into downstream products and sells them back to us.

People

Office:
Without our team there is nothing. People are our most valuable assets and we take care of our people as we take care of our family.
 
Factory labour:
All our footwear is produced in Portugal, the labour standards are safeguarded by EU regulations and we demand full compliance off all our partners and has to be proven through independent audits. This is the least we as a brand can do for the people who carefully handcraft our product. Additionally, through the same audits we ensure a safe working environment is provided by factory management and under no circumstances accept the use of unregulated chemicals.
 
Member of the Filling Pieces universe:
What can you do to contribute?
  • Be precise when you order. Free shipping and ordering multiple styles and sizes might make a comfortable shopping experience, yet it is a big strain on the environment.
  • Double check your size. The most common reason for return is the wrong size across our industry. If you are not sure, speak to one of our customer service representatives to ensure you make the right choice.
  • Take good care of your Filling Pieces. You can really extend the life of your product by caring for them. Have you looked at the care instructions down here?

Product

Knowing that our largest impact on the environment is directly associated with our product, our use of leather, rubber, our packaging materials and distribution. All these areas require direct action to make improvements and research alternatives. Find out what our process looks like.

Materials

Sourcing:
Our materials are sourced first and foremost with quality and responsibility in mind. Our mission to create a luxury experience for a fair price mandates using only the best of materials. Recently this came to include looking at the longevity and ecological impact of these materials as well. These considerations look something like this:
 
1) The product/by product needs to be based on a renewable raw material.
2) The product/by product needs to displace in its end product, a non-renewable material.
3) The product/by product should not be the driving factor in the volume of the main product.
 
Leather:
Our leathers are sourced carefully from the finest leather tanners in Portugal and Italy. Leather is a key ingredient in making our high-quality product. We fully appreciate the fact that leather is a by-product of the food industry and that’s a main driver for us to explore and experiment with more responsible alternatives. For our clothing we are already working with dead-stock fabrics where we can and for the near future we looking to transition into the use of only organic cotton.
 
Exotic leathers:
We strive to always use new and innovative materials in the design of our products. This is why we have made the conscious decision to no longer use any exotic leathers in any of our product. No animal should be bred and killed solely for its skin to be used as luxury good.
 
Soles:
All of our in-house designed rubber soles are manufactured in Portugal. Currently the soles consist of 10% natural rubber, 55% synthetic rubber and of filler materials. This unique blend gives the sole its properties that ensure a product that lasts. Currently we are learning how to increase the natural rubber content. Additionally, we are looking into recycling old rubber soles to prevent the used product ending up in landfills.Insoles:
Insoles determine how our shoes fit and feel. Polyurethane in combination with leather lining provides the most durability and comfort. Without sacrificing neither of these properties we are seeking for alternative materials to use.  
 
Laces:
Our laces are made of the toughest and thickest woven cotton, to ensure durability. We are currently in the stage of transitioning into using only organic cotton and recycled materials.
 
Find out our full story about 683.
 

ABOUT OVERVIEW > RESPONSIBILITY

 

We believe in a world where diversity, equality, inclusion and a healthy environment are the baseline. In order to reach this belief we have to keep on bridging the gap.

We carry the responsibility on our shoulders to ensure our contribution to the world is positive. From that perspective we are always looking for alternatives which help, support and sustain the Filling Pieces universe.

“We have to be conscious about the impact of every decision we make and communicate this transparently, in all honesty to the members of the Filling Pieces universe”. ( statement made by FP)

683 represents the commitment from FILLING PIECES to be more environmentally responsible at all levels of the company.

This page is an explanation of our journey towards a better future and it starts with the process of questioning ourselves and assess where we stand in order to change the narrative.

If you want to know more click here or contact our customer service at support@fillingpieces.com

Timeline

As we are well aware of the fact that by no means we are a sustainable brand, we do feel it is important to openly and transparently share our position and projects that we are currently working on in our journey towards a better future.
2019 – Launch of the Filling Pieces responsibility program. In this program we aim to be conscious about the impact of every decision we make and communicate this transparently, in all honesty to the members of the Filling Pieces universe.
 
June 2019 – Hired a full-time responsibility manager
August 2019 – Our footwear packaging is now a 100% FCS certified
August 2019 – All of our flights are now compensated through our partner: www.myclimatechange.org
September 2019 – We have launched a project exploring the possibilities of recycling used Filling Pieces footwear.
September 2019 – Start of testing wet white leather, a chrome and metal free leather tanning method with fertilizer as the waste product.
September 2019 – Confirmation that none of our leathers originate from the Amazon biome
October 2019 – Started the elimination of all single use plastics. We expect to be single use plastic free in the fall of 2020.
November 2019 – Launch of our public responsibility page, ensuring we are fully transparent in all of our decision making and ongoing projects.

 

2020 – We expect to remove all of our single use plastics from our supply chain, to have found responsible alternatives within leather and expect to have made significant changes to our rubber soles. Moreover, our ready to wear signature line will transition to organic cotton and recycled nylons. Lastly, we aim to have launched our own recycling program before the end of the year.

HQ

Our headquarters is situated in a monumental building in the historic Amsterdam canal district. We have refitted the building to be more energy efficient whilst keeping the monument intact as much as possible.
 
Traveling:
Being aware of the pollution that traveling via air causes we try to minimise flights and only fly when other forms of transportation are not an option. We do offset our CO2 emissions by financially supporting green energy projects. As of October 2019 this is in effect.
Lastly, the central location of our headquarters allows our employees to travel to work either by bike or public transport.
 
Waste:
As people and as a company we obviously also produce waste. Currently we are already separating our waste streams and we are looking into several ways of repurposing waste. One of the things we are exploring is working with a company that recycles our paper waste into downstream products and sells them back to us.

People

Office:
Without our team there is nothing. People are our most valuable assets and we take care of our people as we take care of our family.
 
Factory labour:
All our footwear is produced in Portugal, the labour standards are safeguarded by EU regulations and we demand full compliance off all our partners and has to be proven through independent audits. This is the least we as a brand can do for the people who carefully handcraft our product. Additionally, through the same audits we ensure a safe working environment is provided by factory management and under no circumstances accept the use of unregulated chemicals.
 
Member of the Filling Pieces universe:
What can you do to contribute?
  • Be precise when you order. Free shipping and ordering multiple styles and sizes might make a comfortable shopping experience, yet it is a big strain on the environment.
  • Double check your size. The most common reason for return is the wrong size across our industry. If you are not sure, speak to one of our customer service representatives to ensure you make the right choice.
  • Take good care of your Filling Pieces. You can really extend the life of your product by caring for them. Have you looked at the care instructions down here?

People

Knowing that our largest impact on the environment is directly associated with our product, our use of leather, rubber, our packaging materials and distribution. All these areas require direct action to make improvements and research alternatives. Find out what our process looks like.

 

Materials

 
Sourcing:
Our materials are sourced first and foremost with quality and responsibility in mind. Our mission to create a luxury experience for a fair price mandates using only the best of materials. Recently this came to include looking at the longevity and ecological impact of these materials as well. These considerations look something like this:
 
1) The product/by product needs to be based on a renewable raw material.
2) The product/by product needs to displace in its end product, a non-renewable material.
3) The product/by product should not be the driving factor in the volume of the main product.
 
Leather:
Our leathers are sourced carefully from the finest leather tanners in Portugal and Italy. Leather is a key ingredient in making our high-quality product. We fully appreciate the fact that leather is a by-product of the food industry and that’s a main driver for us to explore and experiment with more responsible alternatives. For our clothing we are already working with dead-stock fabrics where we can and for the near future we looking to transition into the use of only organic cotton.
 
Exotic leathers:
We strive to always use new and innovative materials in the design of our products. This is why we have made the conscious decision to no longer use any exotic leathers in any of our product. No animal should be bred and killed solely for its skin to be used as luxury good.
 
Soles:
All of our in-house designed rubber soles are manufactured in Portugal. Currently the soles consist of 10% natural rubber, 55% synthetic rubber and of filler materials. This unique blend gives the sole its properties that ensure a product that lasts. Currently we are learning how to increase the natural rubber content. Additionally, we are looking into recycling old rubber soles to prevent the used product ending up in landfills.Insoles:
Insoles determine how our shoes fit and feel. Polyurethane in combination with leather lining provides the most durability and comfort. Without sacrificing neither of these properties we are seeking for alternative materials to use.  
 
Laces:
Our laces are made of the toughest and thickest woven cotton, to ensure durability. We are currently in the stage of transitioning into using only organic cotton and recycled materials.
 
Find out our full story about 683.
 
 
PRODUCTION
All of our products are produced in Portugal. We believe in the craftsmanship and expertise of the family owned businesses that we work with. Producing in Portugal ensure fair labour standards as it’s part of the EU. The distance between the factories in Portugal and our warehouse in The Netherlands is relatively short, this Is also a conscious choice in order to minimise C02 emissions.  However for the distribution to our global network of retailers and consumers we are still depending on airfreight for which still haven’t found an alternative but we are actively looking for.
 
Sourcing:
Our materials are sourced first and foremost with quality and responsibility in mind. Our mission to create a luxury experience for a fair price mandates using only the best of materials. Recently this came to include looking at the longevity and ecological impact of these materials as well. These considerations look something like this:
 
1) The product/by product needs to be based on a renewable raw material.
2) The product/by product needs to displace in its end product, a non-renewable material.
3) The product/by product should not be the driving factor in the volume of the main product.
 
PACKAGING
We use recycled or FSC certified cardboard for our packaging. The wooden fibers in cardboard remain intact during the recycling process, the C02 stored in the trees remains there. However, we are working on using less material and finding more ways to reuse it. Currently we are also still using polyurethane bags for our ready to wear packaging and we are in the process of moving towards the elimination of all single use plastics.
PRODUCTION
All of our products are produced in Portugal. We believe in the craftsmanship and expertise of the family owned businesses that we work with. Producing in Portugal ensure fair labour standards as it’s part of the EU. The distance between the factories in Portugal and our warehouse in The Netherlands is relatively short, this Is also a conscious choice in order to minimise C02 emissions.  However for the distribution to our global network of retailers and consumers we are still depending on airfreight for which still haven’t found an alternative but we are actively looking for.
 
Sourcing:
Our materials are sourced first and foremost with quality and responsibility in mind. Our mission to create a luxury experience for a fair price mandates using only the best of materials. Recently this came to include looking at the longevity and ecological impact of these materials as well. These considerations look something like this:
 
1) The product/by product needs to be based on a renewable raw material.
2) The product/by product needs to displace in its end product, a non-renewable material.
3) The product/by product should not be the driving factor in the volume of the main product.
 
PACKAGING
We use recycled or FSC certified cardboard for our packaging. The wooden fibers in cardboard remain intact during the recycling process, the C02 stored in the trees remains there. However, we are working on using less material and finding more ways to reuse it. Currently we are also still using polyurethane bags for our ready to wear packaging and we are in the process of moving towards the elimination of all single use plastics.