Hundreds of used sneakers arrive each week at a workshop east of Paris, where workers inspect them and ask a simple question: Can a shoe be saved?
The nonprofit SneakCoeurZ is in the business of sorting the shoes to check which ones can be resold or redistributed, and which have to be rejected.
It says it collected 30,000 pairs of used sneakers last year and resold 2,000 pairs, and wants to scale up that process.
"Today, there is no project of this scale in the sneaker sector,” said Mohamed Boukhatem, the organisation's director general and co-founder.
"We are the only ones able to industrialise both the processes and the collection of sneakers for reuse.”
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The group's work underscores a growing waste problem in France, where the capital Paris is long one of the world’s fashion and luxury hubs .
The stakes are huge: the textile industry is among the world’s most polluting, and the fashion and textiles sector accounts for up to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations.
The European Parliament has said textiles were the third-largest source of water degradation and land use in the European Union in 2020.
Refashion, the French government-approved eco-organisation for clothing, household linen and footwear, says 259 million pairs of shoes were sold in France in 2024.
It says only about a third of used textiles and footwear are separately collected, with much of the rest left in cupboards or thrown away with household waste.
At its workshop in Champs-sur-Marne, workers for SneakCoeurZ inspect the used shoes and check which can be salvaged.
"The structural elements of the shoe are what determine whether we can refurbish it or not,” workshop manager Paul Defawes Abadie said.
"A damaged Velcro strap isn’t a deal breaker. A lace isn’t a deal breaker. Dirt is never a deal breaker,” he said. "What really matters is the wear of the structural materials, especially the outsole.”
Pairs that make the cut are cleaned from the sole upward, disinfected inside and, in some cases, whitened under UV light before being put back into circulation.
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The nonprofit says it redistributed more than 7,000 pairs to people in need and helped create 19 jobs.
"Over the next three years, the goal is to triple or even quadruple these volumes and move to an industrial scale,” Boukhatem said.
France has tried to respond to the issue of fast-fashion waste with law as well as rhetoric. Its 2020 anti-waste law requires unsold nonfood goods to be reused, donated or recycled instead of destroyed.
Authorities introduced a state-backed repair bonus for clothing and shoes in November 2023. Separately, lawmakers are still working on a bill aimed at reducing the textile industry’s environmental impact .
The bill passed the National Assembly in March 2024 and the Senate in June 2025, and the government said in February that it was still aiming for a joint parliamentary committee this spring. – AP
