Reaching Forward

We have made great progress in our journey this past year. However, there are many aspects to our project that we still need to consider moving forward.

Although our business model is circular, there is still the issue of the resources we use to retrieve the parts of the shoes that would otherwise be in the landfill. Shipping is a major contributor to climate change. According to Oceana’s report, “if global shipping were a country it would be the sixth largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions” after the United States, China, Russia, India, and Japan (Harrould-Kolieb, 2008, p.2). This report focuses on boat and sea transportation rather than ground or flight transportation, but it illustrates the effect and costs that shipping has on the environment. Even though we would be saving resources through recollection, the question becomes whether or not those resources contribute to waste more than if they were not recycled.

The other aspect we should consider is the materials and resources lost in the production of our product. In developing the manufacturing process, we would need to ensure that we waste as few inputs of production as possible. Therefore, the process should factor in how to use the scraps from production either in the creation of more shoes or a secondary product. Since we have not decided on the materials for production, at this point, we cannot determine what type or how much excess materials would constitute our waste.

Without a physical prototype, it is difficult to determine exactly what people expect from their shoes and other concerns they may have about our company. The lack of a physical product also restricts our ability to determine the durability and effectiveness of our product.

Despite these significant flaws, our experience working on this project has taught us what can be improved upon in the future as well as aspects to consider in future endeavors. Through this project, we have learned the steps of creating a business, how to connect with people outside of our social circles to network, how to design and promote a product, and how to collaborate without physically being in the same space. In this ever-changing environment, RAY Fashion has allowed us to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues and to realize that the world is only as wonderful or as terrible as we make it out to be.

---

Interested in what we do? Follow us on social media!

Instagram @ray_fashioninc

Facebook @RayFashionINC

---

References

Harrould-Kolieb, E. (2008, July). Shipping Impacts on Climate: A Source with Solutions. Oceana. https://www.cleanshipping.org/download/Oceana_Shipping_Report1.pdf