Xinca

Wear Awareness

16E0 9D9C

Author

Maria Florencia Tcholakian

Maria Florencia Tcholakian

School

Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina

Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina

Professor

Aleandra Scafati

Aleandra Scafati

Global Goals

12. Responsible Consumption and Production

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Summary

Xinca is a firm that designs, manufactures and sells colorful, designer sneakers made out of recycled tires and reused fabric. They create social value by working with a manufacturing organization that provides jobs for hard to employ people. This supports the community, produces a high quality shoe, and ensures the people making their shoes are well paid and fairly treated.

Alejandro Malgor, co-founder of Xinca, sums up the values of the company stating, “We would like Xinca to come up as the language of sustainability, fair trade and responsible consumption”.

Innovation

The base of the Xinca’s footwear is made from recycled rubber mixed with virgin rubber. Fabric remnants obtained from garment factories, used work clothes, and donations of clothes from private individuals are used for the upper part of the sneakers and toecap.

To maintain control of manufacturing and assure workers are fairly treated and paid, Xinca contracted with Impulso Social allowing them to purchase new equipment and create stable new jobs.

“Impulso Social is an organization we came across in 2012, which was trying to find a product that allowed them to attain labor continuity. We incorporated them into the first three stages of the process, namely: sanding of the bases, fabric sticking and fabric cutting. The idea is that they are able to add value to their work, and investments have already been made to introduce machines for them to start sewing and cutting automatically, helping them to scale up,” stated Alejandro Malgor, Xinca Co-founder.

Wear Awareness

Inspiration

The three co-founders of Xinca, Alejandro Malgor, Ezequiel Gatti, and Nazareno El Hom met playing rugby for clubs in Mendoza, Argentina. They spent their free time doing volunteer work that led to founding Ovalados, an NGO that obtained donations for hospitals and care homes for children.

They wanted to find a more sustainable way to help change the world. They felt the goal of success was not the money itself, it was just the means of creating something bigger: to find a solution to social and environmental problems. The challenge was to find a new way of doing business, where labor and solidarity were part of one language.

They chose the name Xinca to honor the dwindling number of descendants of the Xinca ethnic group. They seek to recover the cultural values of the Xinca who place social and environmental welfare at the center of their way of life.

Overall impact

The manufacturing of massive amounts of tires and the difficulties of disposing of them after use is a worldwide environmental problem. In Argentina, between 4 and 7 million tires are disposed of annually (i.e., about 100,000 tons), 40% of which is generated in the Federal District and Greater Buenos Aires. Most of it goes to dumps or landfills.

Since it takes 600 years for a tire to degrade, storing massively increasing amounts of used tires is problematic. The most frequent method to eliminate used tires is burning, which produces high volumes of gas emissions that contain particles that are detrimental for the environment and contribute to climate change.

Business benefit

Xinca is developing a profitable business by recycling tire rubber and discarded clothing to manufacture stylish sneakers.

Xinca has incorporated as a B Corporation to ensure they are accountable to their values.

"We seek to create value. The enterprise must create value for the entire society, not just the shareholders. Systemic challenges require systemic solutions, and the community of certified B Corporations offers a solution which is definite, marketable, and has scalability”, states co-founder Malgor.

Social and environmental benefit

Recycling tire rubber decreases the amount of tires being burned in disposal dumps and improves air quality. In addition, by contracting part of their manufacturing process to Impulso Social they have created stable good paying jobs for people who are difficult to employ paying twice the amount usually earned for this type of work.

Interview

Alejandro Malgor, Co-founder

Business information

Xinca

Xinca

Number of Employees: