Munich In David Ekelund’s native Sweden, the sun doesn’t even rise for weeks in some places during the winter. Factories here can hardly be supplied with solar power all year round. Not so in Vietnam, where Ekelund’s outdoor brand Icebug has hundreds of thousands of shoes made every year.
The aim of the 51-year-old is to equip the production facilities in Vietnam with photovoltaic systems on a large scale and thus do without the coal-fired power that is predominant there. “The factories can use it to generate half of their energy themselves, reducing costs by up to 30 percent,” Ekelund told Handelsblatt.
The medium-sized company has teamed up with some big clothing brands such as Arcteryx, Columbia, Lululemon and Gap. Led by the Clean Energy Investment Accelerator (Ceia), a program has emerged that will soon convert sites across Vietnam to green energy production. Ceia is supported by the US and German governments.
So far, many manufacturers in the Southeast Asian country have not wanted to mount solar modules on the roofs: the systems are too expensive, the permits too complicated. In order to make the changeover as easy as possible for the producers, the renewable energy subsidiary of Munich-based Baywa takes care of the financing, permits, construction, service and maintenance. According to Ekelund, the factory owners don’t have to invest any money, just sign a long-term purchase agreement for the electricity.
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Icebug’s production is already CO2-neutral on paper: For years, the company from near Gothenburg has been offsetting more emissions than it produces. By supporting United Nations climate protection projects, Ekelund can more than compensate for the climate-damaging effect of shoe production in the Far East. However, coal-fired power does not fit into Ekelund’s sustainable corporate strategy.
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The Swede founded the label Icebug in 2001 together with his mother. The shoes should be particularly durable, but above all the soles should have good grip on ice and snow. “That’s actually out of the question,” says Ekelund. The success of his company is based on the best possible combination of both properties.
Icebug now sells its shoes all year round
Ekelund now no longer only sells shoes for winter, but also for runners or walkers who are out and about on slippery terrain in summer. With growing success: According to Ekelund, Icebug will achieve record sales of over 30 million euros in the current financial year (end of February).
In addition, the entrepreneur tries to make the shoes as environmentally friendly as possible. The outer material is made from recycled polyester, and the company also uses particularly water-saving dyeing and tanning processes.
The Swede wants to make his own production more climate-friendly by having solar power systems installed on the roofs of Vietnamese companies.
(Photo: Icebug)
Icebug itself only employs 50 people. However, 2,000 people work in the factories in Vietnam that produce for the label. According to Ekelund, this is where by far the most emissions in the life cycle of the shoes occur. That’s why it’s so important to start there.
The environmental impact of the industry as a whole is enormous. According to the sustainability consultancy Quantis, the fashion industry is responsible for eight percent of the climate-damaging greenhouse gases worldwide. A good 80 percent of this is clothing, the rest is shoes.
The competition was little impressed by the plan
For years, Ekelund has been trying to get competitors to join his plan, he says. The reactions were mixed. It was also difficult to convince the factory owners in Vietnam of his solar plans. His influence on the factories is limited, Icebug does not account for more than a fifth of the orders in any of the factories.
The pressure of the brands is very important. “Usually, the suppliers have only ever implemented what the customer tells them to do,” explains Rasmus Nedergaard from the consulting firm Act Renewable. It is rare for producers to invest in renewable energies of their own accord. In addition, many companies in the Far East are afraid of being cheated by the local solar power providers. The bureaucratic hurdles in many countries are also high. It is therefore important to work with trustworthy, large partners.
In the meantime, however, Icebug’s competition is also thinking about generating electricity on site: the Swabian outdoor outfitter Vaude, for example, claims to also produce in a climate-neutral manner and is currently achieving this through compensation. For Vaude, power generation is a major issue for producers: “An energy transition in the manufacturing countries is urgently needed in order to be able to reduce emissions on a large scale,” says Hilke Patzwall, sustainability manager at the medium-sized company.
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The message from the western brands has now reached some manufacturers, also because it is worth switching to renewable energies: “If we do it cleverly, we will become more profitable,” says KY Lee, head of sporting goods manufacturer Hwaseung. The Koreans run factories in Vietnam, among other places. Hwaseung has promised to go completely green by 2030, including by installing solar panels on the roofs of the company’s two dozen factories.
The construction work will start in the spring
Three Icebug factories are to be equipped with solar roofs from the spring. Ekelund hopes that as many competitors as possible will join the new program, especially providers that are significantly larger: “We need strong brand partners who will drive the project forward with their producers.” The effort for brands is low, Ekelund advertises: the corporations do not need to take any money into their hands, but only have to provide guarantees.
Larger partners could decisively advance the program: According to its own statements, the sports group Adidas, for example, uses more than 200 production facilities from suppliers, a multiple of Icebug. The brand with the three stripes had a total of 340 million pairs of shoes made in 2021, 1000 times as many as the Swedes.
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