Aldo Becomes Climate Neutral: What This Means for the Environment and Consumers

Image credit: Lindsay Garbacik for The Campus Trainer

With so many brands beginning to carry environmentally sustainable products - like Urban Outfitters, Converse and H&M - it’s hard to know which brands are embracing the sustainability trend for clout and which are doing it to genuinely improve the environment.

The shoe and accessories brand Aldo is the first footwear company in the world to become certified climate neutral. The company has been certified since September 2018. However, this September, the brand extended its commitment to the environment. Aldo now intends to decrease their e-commerce and products’ transportation carbon emissions, according to Aldo Group’s recent press release.

While this all sounds very impressive, it is difficult to decipher what this really means, and how it will impact the fight against climate change.

The purpose of becoming climate neutral is to “reduce net climate impact to zero,” according to South Pole’s website. South Pole is the company who certified Aldo as climate neutral.

In brief, in order for a company to become certified as climate neutral, they first must calculate the total emissions their company gives off; these could be from the transportation of products to customers or the emissions released in production processes. Then, the brand must come up with a plan to reduce their emissions and put that plan into action. After these plans have been executed, the company is evaluated by a certified organization.

In Aldo’s journey to become climate neutral, they created a more sustainable corporate campus that encourages recycling, composting and driving electric vehicles, all in favor of cleaner air for the local and global environment. They are also giving employees the opportunity to volunteer in a community garden to encourage them to eat locally sourced foods, according to Aldo’s press release.

Another big initiative Aldo took in order to become climate neutral was entirely eliminating single-use shopping bags in their stores. They are now entirely paperless when it comes to shopping bags, according to Radaysha Palmer, an associate at Aldo in Georgetown. Instead of the single-use bags they used to use, they now have reusable bags made from two recycled plastic water bottles each, which they charge $1 for in stores.

“I’m from Montgomery County and we’ve had a bag tax for a few years now, so I am used to having to bring my own bag everywhere. I think it’s great other places are embracing the reusable bag,” said sophomore elementary education major Rachel Herman.

Many Aldo customers are able to avoid using bags at all. One of the main products at Aldo is shoes, so the company created a box with a string coming through the lid that functions as a carrying device for the box itself. This entirely eliminates the need for a bag.

Perhaps the biggest result of Aldo’s journey to climate neutrality, at least for consumers, is their shoe line created entirely from recycled materials. This year, they have released a sneaker made from recycled polyester and carbon neutral lake algae. The shoe, called RPPL, is made with 100% recycled polyester knit and the sole is made from algae that is harmful to the freshwater it comes from, according to Aldo’s website. Even the shoebox is made out of 100% recycled cardboard.

With such a sustainable shoe, it seems like there would be a huge hype with customers for the materials alone.

Image credit: Lindsay Garbacik for The Campus Trainer

Yet, this is not the case, at least not in Aldo’s Georgetown location.

“Nobody’s really into it right now,” said Palmer. The Georgetown location has had the shoe in stock for around two months and they have not been very popular in terms of sales, she said.

“I typically don’t look at if a shoe is good for the environment before I buy it, but if it is I get excited about it,” said sophomore criminology and criminal justice major Alex Stewart.

While the RPPL’s may not be the most popular shoe, the idea behind an environmentally sustainable shoe and a brand consciously helping the environment is a step in a positive direction. Aldo plans to continue their journey into becoming as environmentally friendly as possible. What other companies will follow their lead?