We at FinnComfort® have made it our job to take the strain off our feet and to keep them moving and in good health. Together with podiatrists and experienced orthopaedic cobblers, we explore the anatomy of feet and how they work and over more than 75 years, have developed extremely comfortable, high-quality shoes. In our modern factory in Haßfurt am Main, Bavaria, Germany, we create a wide range of fashionable and classic models.

We take care of all stages of production, from design, to manufacture to careful quality control. A large number of FinnComfort® shoes is hand sewn. A quality valued by customers all over the world. What have you discovered wearing our FinnComfort® models? You can get in contact with us on our social media platforms. We look forward to hearing your stories.

So, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as you called it or Environmental Social Governance (ESG) as it is named quite often over here is finding more popularity or attention in public discussion, politics and the advertising.

However, in my perception, it has been more a Topic for big companies  with global sourcing, greenwashing their image, trying to communicate what they are now trying where they didn’t pay any attention to in the past.

We currently have not defined any Sustainable Development Goals. Why is that?

Being a German Company, focusing on Made in Germany with a clear focus on European sourcing, Environmental Social Governance (ESG) is already in FinnComforts “DNA” since its beginning. 

The European Union and within the EU – Germany even more so, has always focused on setting one of the highest standards world wide for environmental and social standards. Therefore a lot of discussions e.g. like about the working environment in some south east Asian countries do not arise.

Yes, as you mentioned – Chlorofluorocarbons have been eliminated from the production of our soles – I would say since the end of last century or for more than 20 years.

The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in our production has been significantly reduced in the last decade  e.g. by using water-soluble adhesives instead of solvent based adhesives.

FinnComfort always had a focus on using sustainable materials. For example, if we look at our footbed we not only use natural materials. The cork granulate we use is actually made from the left over material from the production of bottle corks. Latex is a natural, regrowing material. So is leather.

We focus on European sourcing – e.g if we look at leather suppliers like Heinen – they are setting one of the highest environmental standards in the industry with their Terracare label, with at least 40 % less water consumption and at least 30 % less CO2 spend compared to industry average.

Since we moved to our current production facility we do use process heat from a near by biogas plant for the heating of our building, thereby reducing CO2 emissions.

These small example may show, that even though we have not defined placative goals for advertising, ESG has always been part of FinnComfort’s DNA – for us it is a continuous project of getting better every year – we could almost talk about Kaizen 改善 if you like.

Ralph Wolter

Managing Director and Co-Owner of FinnComfort®