What if we truly made a difference?

Inspiring new ways of consuming.

Sometimes, it only takes a few words to set everything in motion.
What if we produced better? What if we challenged the status quo? What if we proved that another way of consuming is possible?

At Zèta, we believe that to change our habits, an entire industry must reinvent itself.
To become more ethical. More transparent. More sustainable. Closer to people and the planet.

We know what you might be thinking: yes, this journey is far from over.
But isn't that the very essence of every revolution?

The limitations

The very nature of a project is to evolve every day.

We cannot promise you perfection. However, we can promise that every evening we turn off the office lights knowing we did everything we could to make progress. In concrete terms, here are the areas we still want to improve.

Air freight.

Until early 2025, we refused to ship our products outside Europe due to the carbon emissions generated by air travel. Today, we are opening up to the American and Asian markets to continue growing and to offer everyone the opportunity to wear responsibly made footwear.

It would be senseless for a brand like ours to transport and store stock without first testing demand. We have already determined the best way to ship to these countries (by cargo sailboat across the Atlantic and by train via the Silk Road). But first, we need to ensure genuine traction exists in these markets.

Our factories and ISO certifications.

ISO certifications are assessments that attest to the quality and best practices to be upheld within an industry. In our factories, typically. Their main drawback? Their cost.

Our partners cannot always afford them. To address this, together we have established rigorous monitoring and strict specifications:

• we visit them every 6 months to check working conditions and workloads.

• we are in constant communication and are fully aware of everything that happens on-site: wages, paid leave, sick leave, working hours…

Meeting our partners.

Because we believe that a successful business relationship is above all a wonderful human connection. All of our partners are as close to us as possible in Europe: Portugal, Italy and Turkey.

However, when locations are too remote or difficult to reach, we have no choice but to travel by plane. Wherever possible, we take the train and the bus (Bordeaux - Istanbul: 10,000 kilometres of track and reflection, for the launch of our Olea model).

It is a long journey, certainly. But it is so enjoyable to take our time and slow down!

Plastic in plant-based materials.

The co-products we use to make our trainers (corn, grape, olive, coffee) cannot be used in their raw state. They must be blended with polyurethane, which stiffens and strengthens the material to make it durable.

For the corn and olive models, this PU is bio-based, meaning it is produced without plastic and from renewable resources. For the others, the PU contains a small amount of plastic. For example, the faux leather in the Alpha model is made of 75% grape pomace and 25% PU.

We work on R&D every day to reduce the concentration of plastic-based PU in our materials as much as possible. And ultimately, eliminate it completely!