Green foot forward: Collège Sainte-Anne students create eco-friendly shoe company

For the last six months, teacher Brigitte Dionne has been running her class like a business.

Grade 11 students at Collège Sainte-Anne have created an eco-friendly shoe company called Scoloco from the ground up.

The hands-on project, started by Dionne, was a way to spice up the school curriculum.

With a background in business, the teacher decided, “naturally, to start a real company,” she said.

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From 100 per cent cotton laces to natural rubber soles from the Amazon, Scoloco’s trendy shoe, designed in class, is environmentally friendly.

The shoe is also made with a relatively new leather substitute comprised of pineapple husk fibres called call Piñatex.

The shoes will only be sold online for now.

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Students like Matthew Tsirmbas say the project is a learning experience but also a great initiative for a greener future.

“We just told ourselves: ‘It’s time for us to take a stand, and this is how we are going to make our stand,'” Tsirmbas said.

Arianne Marleau says this project has given her a leg up on the competition when it comes to applying for future jobs.

She says she has gained a lot of knowledge over the last six months of building the Scoloco brand.

“The work ethic you have to have, the risks you have to take to make a product like this, and you need guts because you need guts to succeed,” Marleau said.

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Prices for the shoes range from $195 for presale purchases to $230 a pair.

Proceeds from the project will be rolled back into the business, with a portion of the sales going to a charity of the students’ choice.

Dionne says the project will continue into the next year, giving a new batch of students the chance to get their foot in the door of the business world.

Dionne has grand aspirations for the startup company.

“Maybe Europe — anything (is) possible,” she said.