Yes, you read it right! OAT shoes literally blossom once they are ready to be tossed out. They are entirely made up of biodegradable materials and of course, are environment friendly. Once you're done with them, you can compost them and they will sprout trees.

And all you fashion conscious, need not worry. They look really cool and trendy. At Amsterdam's Green Fashion Awards held in February this year, they won the second prize that is itself a huge honor.

The materials used in creating OAT shoes easily break down. Once the flowers bloom out, shoes are converted into soil. And don't worry, shoes won't degrade in your feet. They get degraded only after burying under the soil and can be worn in the rain too.

The creative mind behind OAT shoes is Christiaan Maats, who is with us today to share some facts about the shoes and some delightful moments on this journey. Catch his interview below:


Christiaan, please introduce yourself to E-junkies.

My name is Christiaan Maats, product designer from Amsterdam. I studied industrial design at the Technical University in Delft. Now I make shoes that bloom!


Tell us about your awesome product 'OAT Shoes'. What concept does it use?

OAT Shoes are shoes that turn into compost when buried in the ground and that sprout flowers from the seeds located in the tongue. They are made from certified biodegradable plastics and natural materials like hemp, organic cotton and cork.





















How did such a creative idea strike to you? Tell us about the inception of 'OAT Shoes'.

I was graduating from the TU Delft on a technical innovation for shoes. During the project it struck me that sustainable shoes were sparse, often very ugly and based on recycling, making them cumbersome to get rid of: once you've worn out your shoes, you have to find a box and an address to send them to and then ship them off, without really knowing or seeing what happens to the shoes. To me it seemed too much trouble and too little fun. I thought: I want shoes that look good and I want to be able to just throw them out in the organic waste bin. Or better yet: I want to be able to bury them and have flowers grow out. Then they're really part of nature and you become part of nature's cycle.





















Were you skeptical about this concept before the launch? How did you overcome it?

Trying to realize an idea like this straight out of university was a constant battle against doubts and insecurities, but I did have a solid belief in the story and a strong need to engage in the adventure of realizing it, win or lose. I believe in life you need to follow your instinct, do what you believe in in spite of doubts and insecurities, be open to learn and develop as a person and to just see where it takes you.























I am sure you must have gone through experimenting your product several times. Share your pre-production experience with us.

Well we've gone through several design stages, learning to use the materials, exploring production methods, finding people who could make the shoe and believed in the concept, talking to experts in various fields. We've explored and learned so many things on so many levels, telling the whole story would take a book!







































Initially, how difficult you found it to make people understand the concept of your product?

Actually people almost always responded enthusiastically to the concept, be it with slight disbelief. Everybody understands the premise, although they do often have questions as to how we achieved it.


You've so many zealous fans now! How do you feel about it?

It's incredible that we've gotten so many enthusiastic reactions from all over the world. I sometimes literally can't believe that we're reaching people from Korea to Brazil, from India to Italy. Reading all the responses and getting those emails is a huge motivator to keep going and follow our vision.






























Now that OAT shoes are so famous, are you planning on expanding this base? Are you going to launch a product that falls on the same line?

We are thinking about expanding the concept, but for now our most important focus is making cool sneakers.


Share the best incident that you've encountered on this journey from conceiving the idea till present.

Wow, that's hard. The best incident..winning second prize at the Amsterdam Fashion Week was huge for us. But getting the first complete samples in and seeing the final shoes for the first time was such a rush as well. Actually I think the moment I see my own shoes 'in the wild': in the street on someone I don't know, that would be awesome.























A final word from you! What message do you have for our readers?

Well the message is really in the shoes.







































Christiaan, thanks for this wonderful interview. OAT shoes are really cool and so are you! We wish you all the very best for your future endeavors.

OAT shoes website.
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