SANS MATIN is a British established shoe brand conceptualised on the founders’ backpacking journey through South America in 2015. What began as a need for two travellers has now become one of the must-have brands in the UK. The family owned Shopify store, run by cousins Charly and Lockie Cunningham, was established to bridge a gap in the market for stylish, comfortable and affordable trainers that suit a range of environments, from a respectable London office to a local bar abroad.
It has been imperative to both Charly and Lockie to build SANS MATIN around three core pillars: charitability, ethics, and sustainable practises. Sustainability is at the forefront and is visible in the ethical choices made by the founders that reach beyond their own production and packaging.
Charly and Lockie based the company on a circular model, meaning they extend the company’s responsibilities past the buyer's purchase by completing the lifecycle of old SANS MATIN trainers. They do so by offering customers a 10% discount on their next pair if they send their worn out shoes back to SANS MATIN for recycling.
SANS MATIN has chosen a family run atelier in Medellin, Columbia, to ensure fair wages and good working conditions in their supply chain. That has provided them with the opportunity to further commit to their sustainability goals. The company supports the local economy and reduces its carbon footprint, an objective SANS MATIN is dedicated to (and wholeheartedly endorsed by us!), by choosing locally sourced materials, no more than two hours from the atelier.
The founders also extend their social responsibility outside the company walls and donate 2% of all sales to charities that align with their key values.
SANS MATIN cares deeply about providing its customers with a versatile, comfortable, and stylish everyday trainer while ensuring quality craftsmanship and the most sustainable production methods available. Their passion for sustainability reflects in their dedication to applying sustainable practises to all levels of the company and the success of touching base on all three pillars of sustainability; economical, social and environmental.
The result is an ethical collection of the perfect everyday trainer suited to complement the work life balance of the modern day consumer.
Charly and Lockie took on the challenge of establishing a sustainable shoe brand that would provide consumers with the perfect everyday trainer.
One of the challenges was keeping a competitive online shop while meeting sustainability targets. SANS MATIN has set ambitious targets of becoming carbon neutral and, possibly in time, carbon positive. A target easily disrupted by a simple return process.
For any online shop, fast and easy returns have become a necessity to stay competitive, which can cause a strain on a company’s sustainability targets with unnecessary emissions of CO2. However, the environmental impact can be reduced by preventing the most common reason for returns, sizing.
That’s why SANS MATIN set out to ward off returns from happening in the first place. By partnering with Easysize, the company now has a simple solution, Fit Quiz, to solve the challenge of keeping a competitive online shop by continuing to offer returns but adding a low friction fit finder to provide buyers with accurate clothing size calculations. Therefore, the company can successfully reduce return rates without compromising its strict CO2 targets or its competitiveness in the online market.
Easysize was launched on SANS MATIN in June 2021 to help customers find the right shoe size from their very first purchase. The Easysize size recommender removes the distraction of measuring according to a standard size guide and replaces it with a seamless customer experience. By replacing size charts and time consuming body measurements with a few simple questions the fit finder reduces shopper returns.
SANS MATIN commits to incorporating sustainability to all levels of the company. By adding the size recommender, the company is now paving the way for their customers to become more sustainable and reduce individual customers’ carbon footprint with accurate clothing size calculations that result in fewer returns.
By using Fit Quiz in their Shopify store, SANS MATIN maintains its commitment to sustainability while meeting its business objectives to increase sales, provide customers with a low friction purchasing experience, and reduce the company’s rate of return.
“We are always looking for solutions to lessen our environmental impact. Our objective was to decrease returns without compromising the customer’s shopping experience. The Easysize solution delivered beyond our expectations.”
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