When we first began to dream about creating something with a bigger mission behind it, I was only thinking about one way to accomplish our mission. I thought it would only be done through the product we were creating.

We carefully planned out our styles, our processes and even our logistics.

However, there was one thing we didn’t think about: the possible potential for the packaging of our products. When we began to think about what we could do, we got excited about what it could provide for our mission as a company. 

Each Brave Soles item that leaves us and goes out into the world arrives at its destination wrapped in its own unique bag.

Granted, there’s nothing that special about a simple bag.

Except when you consider that you and I are not separate from the items we fill our world with.

We are connected to it all through the stories that are interwoven in our lives.

A simple shoe bag from Brave Soles can tell a great story:

• It could have been the robe in a Christmas pageant worn by a “wise man”
• It might have even been a maxi dress that had a lot of great cocktail parties before it went off rotation
• Perhaps it was destined for the landfill as a roll-end and one of our team members dug it out of a back storage room in our continual quest to upcycle materials.

In our journey to grow and learn how to continue to bring our love of fashion, people and planet together, our little shoe bags have come to represent something to us that is personal, unique and inspiring.

Those little shoe bags represent the beginning of a new life for everything that’s connected to them. They keep the fabric out of landfills and they give your items a longer life by protecting them, However, perhaps the most exciting for us is that they help to provide tangible income for ladies in the communities we work in.

One of the those women is Carmen.

Carmen is a jewelry artisan and seamstress. She has come a long way in her journey from being vulnerable as a young single mother to being a homeowner. Much of that is due to the kindness of Canadian volunteers who helped her build her own home.

But that was just the beginning.

Along the way, Carmen also realized that she had some great skills and ideas. Most of all, she has shown herself and the world that she has the drive and integrity to make her ideas happen.

Carmen is one of our suppliers in our ever-growing supply chain for Brave Soles. We helped her buy her first sewing machine and she has helped us solve a problem for our packaging.

We all share part of the story of beauty in the world. Thanks for joining ours.

On June 7, Brave Soles will officially be one year old. This birthday celebration is about the people and events that have helped to build a business we are proud to work in, day after day.

If you want to know the numbers behind our celebration, here they are:

Fatherhood is important for all of us. All around us, there are fathers in our lives that are worthy of being celebrated. One of those fathers is Bernard, our Chief Tire Wizard.

In our little corner of the world, we know it as a the “flip flop” because their name is an English onamatopoeia (a word the phonetically suggests the sound that something makes). However, this sweet little shoe has many other terms of endearment around the world...

Florence Levasseur is a shoe lover, a stepmom, and a free spirit. She's also our Co-Founder and the architect behind the scenes of our online

We are so excited to finally be able to announce that Brave Soles is part of the 2018 cohort for the Agents of Change program at the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) in Toronto.

Here's what this means in plain English...

The  Agents of Change: Climate Solutions is a joint effort between the Government of Ontario and the Centre for Social Innovation. It's designed to help startups from a variety of backgrounds with one common goal: to build businesses that are going to help in the fight against climate change. 

Some of us are fashion businesses, some of us are agriculture initiatives and one of us is even figuring out how to make massive amounts of bread from beer :)

All of us are excited to have the opportunity to join forces and collectively work together for a better future we can all share in. 

Over the next year, we will be working closely to learn how to drastically cut down our greenhouse gas emissions, how to improve our supply chain management and how to build a sustainable business that can flourish because we are putting people, planet, and prosperity on a level playing field. 

We don't just want to say we believe in building a sustainable fashion industry - we want to prove to ourselves and our world that it is possible.

We are honored to be part of this new adventure, and you are part of that story. 

We will keep you updated as we learn and grow through this process and continue to create change through beauty and courage. 

Thanks for believing in us and thanks for having such great taste in shoes!

It's hard to deny: the Avarca sandal is a popular style around the world. Equally comfortable and classy, the Avarca has grown in popularity to be known as a shoe that was made by the people, for the people.

When I think about how I want to move forward and how we can help people do the same, I think about the quarter turn of a champagne bottle.

There is no judgement on the sediment that collects in the bottle. It just is.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Until you know.