An estimated 1.5 billion people around the world do not own a pair of shoes. This is a staggering number to comprehend, especially for those of us who live in a country where footwear is taken for granted.
Many people throw away shoes that are still in good condition and do not realise that when shoes break down in our landfills, the toxic glue that holds the shoes together can leak into our water supply and pollute the atmosphere. Many of these disregarded pairs could be recycled and worn by those who don't even own a pair.
Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects and distributes donated shoes free of charge to people worldwide who desperately need footwear and will treasure a donated pair for years to come.
The initial idea for the organisation came in response to the Asian Tsunami disaster in 2004. Since then, Soles4Souls has given away over 8 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes. Life-threatening ailments caused by parasites such as hookworm can be easily prevented with a simple pair of shoes as the larvae are able to penetrate the skin through the soles of the feet and cause anaemia, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and can also cause underdevelopment in children. It is estimated that over 225 million persons are infected.
Today, one pair of shoes is donated every 9 seconds and collected through large donations from footwear companies, retailers, churches, non profit ministries, civic groups, schools and individuals, which have been distributed to people in over 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States.
Gwendolyn Carrié is the first shoe boutique in the UK to be a Soles4Souls collection point. We took part in the International Shoes & Champagne Charity event in Ottawa, Canada, an event celebrating international friendship through the universal language and passion for shoes and fashion. The two-day event showcased dozens of leading international designers, including Georgina Goodman, Bruno Magli, Badgley Mischka and Vivienne Westwood, along with Gwendolyn Carrié, which donated a pair of fish skin leather shoes in support of a charity auction for Soles4Souls.
To find out more about Soles4Souls, visit www.giveshoes.org