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When we pick up a pair of sandals, we usually notice the color, silhouette, and handcrafted details first. Yet the component that supports our weight throughout the day remains beneath our feet: the foam footbed. This layer directly affects comfort, product life, and the environmental footprint of the finished footwear.

Manufacturers often choose EVA because it is lightweight, soft, flexible, and capable of absorbing impact. Conventional EVA, however, begins with fossil-based raw materials. Sugarcane-based BIO EVA offers another route. It replaces part of the fossil-derived carbon with carbon from renewable biomass. This change at the material level could help the sandals industry move toward a lower-carbon future without giving up the performance people expect.

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What Is EVA, and Why Is It Used in Footwear?

EVA stands for Ethylene Vinyl Acetate. It is a copolymer made from ethylene and vinyl acetate. During the foaming process, manufacturers create tiny cells inside the material. These cells reduce its weight, while the formulation can be adjusted to achieve different levels of density, hardness, flexibility, and recovery.

These qualities make EVA suitable for midsoles, footbeds, and other cushioning components. In handmade sandals, EVA can provide a light and comfortable base that helps absorb the forces created during everyday walking. Conventional EVA usually relies on ethylene derived from petroleum or natural gas. Its life cycle therefore connects to finite fossil resources and emissions from extraction, transportation, and processing.

How Is BIO EVA Different from Petroleum-Based EVA?

The main difference is not the appearance of the finished foam. It is the origin of the ethylene used to make it. Conventional production creates ethylene from fossil feedstocks, while a bio-based route can produce ethylene from plant-derived ethanol.

The journey from sugarcane to BIO EVA can be explained in five steps:

Sugarcane stores sugar as it grows.
Producers extract and ferment the sugar to make bio-ethanol.
A dehydration process converts bio-ethanol into bio-ethylene.
Manufacturers combine bio-ethylene with vinyl acetate to produce BIO EVA resin.
The resin is compounded and foamed to create a footbed or sole with the required performance.

Many BIO EVA grades can work as “drop-in” materials within existing manufacturing processes. According to Braskem, some of its commercial bio-based EVA grades contain approximately 45–80% bio-based carbon, including a grade developed for foams and footwear soles.

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Why Is Sugarcane an Important Feedstock?

Sugarcane contains a high level of sucrose, which producers can ferment efficiently into ethanol. Farmers can also grow it again within an agricultural cycle. Unlike petroleum, which takes millions of years to form, sugarcane is a renewable resource when it is cultivated and managed responsibly.

As sugarcane grows, it absorbs CO₂ through photosynthesis. Some of that carbon becomes part of the plant biomass before continuing into ethanol and bio-based chemical feedstocks. Replacing fossil carbon with plant-based carbon may therefore reduce the carbon footprint of the resin.

However, “made from sugarcane” does not mean “carbon-free.” Cultivation and processing still require land, water, fertilizer, machinery, energy, and transportation. The result depends on farming practices, factory energy, transport distances, material formulation, and the boundaries used in the assessment.

An updated life-cycle assessment published by one material producer in 2025 reported that its sugarcane-based EVA achieved an estimated carbon-footprint reduction of around 4.5 kilograms of CO₂e per kilogram of resin compared with a fossil-based alternative.

This figure demonstrates the potential of the technology within that study. Brands should not apply it automatically to every pair of footwear without product-specific supply-chain data. (Braskem Updated LCA, 2025)

Can BIO EVA Deliver the Same Comfort as Conventional EVA?

BIO EVA can retain the qualities that make EVA useful in footwear. When developers control the density, cell structure, and hardness correctly, the foam can remain light, soft, flexible, and effective at absorbing impact.

Nevertheless, the raw material alone cannot guarantee comfort. The shape of the footbed matters just as much.

A contoured footbed can follow the heel, arch, and forefoot more closely. This design can help distribute pressure, improve stability, and reduce movement inside the sandal while walking. A practical comfort system should therefore develop material performance and anatomical form together.

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Important: Bio-Based Does Not Mean Biodegradable

This distinction is essential for honest sustainability communication. “Bio-based” describes where a material comes from. “Biodegradable” describes how it behaves under specific end-of-life conditions.

A plastic made partly from plants is not automatically biodegradable. Likewise, some biodegradable plastics may come from fossil raw materials.

The European Commission explains that bio-based plastics may be fully or partly made from biological resources, yet they are not necessarily biodegradable or compostable. Brands should therefore say that BIO EVA can “reduce dependence on fossil feedstocks” rather than claim that the foam will disappear naturally after disposal. (European Commission)

For the same reason, meaningful sustainability must go beyond a green-looking material. Durability, repair, reuse, responsible disposal, and future take-back systems all influence the total impact of footwear.

How Can Brands Verify Bio-Based Content and Low-Carbon Claims?

Brands should separate two questions. The first is: “How much of the carbon comes from biomass?”

Laboratories can use ASTM D6866 radiocarbon analysis to distinguish contemporary biogenic carbon from fossil carbon and calculate bio-based content. (ASTM D6866)

The second question is: “How many greenhouse-gas emissions occur across the defined product system?”

ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 provide the framework and requirements for Life Cycle Assessment. Meanwhile, ISO 14067 provides requirements and guidance for calculating a product carbon footprint. (ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14067)

Therefore, “high bio-based content” and “low carbon” are not interchangeable claims. A material could contain a high share of biogenic carbon while still creating impacts through agriculture, energy use, or transportation.

Measuring both dimensions gives consumers clearer information and helps brands avoid greenwashing.

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SW GREEN: Where Sugarcane Meets Thai Craft and Natural Rubber

These principles connect directly with SW GREEN, a Sandals World initiative that aims to develop foam footbeds within the BIO EVA category.

By using sugarcane-based feedstocks, the project seeks to reduce dependence on petroleum and create a measurable pathway toward lower-carbon footwear using internationally recognized assessment methods.

However, SW GREEN does not treat foam as an isolated component. It brings together three layers of design, material performance, and Thai identity.

The upper celebrates handmade craftsmanship through macramé, crochet, embroidery, and woven textiles created with artisans or local communities. These details transform each pair into Artistic Handmade Sandals that carry beauty, human touch, and the story of their makers.

The supporting layer combines sugarcane-based BIO EVA with a contoured footbed shaped around the anatomy of the foot. The goal is not to create a green image alone. The sandals must also feel light, easy to wear, and comfortable enough for everyday use.

The bottom layer uses Thai natural rubber with a textured tread designed to improve grip and reduce the likelihood of slipping on common surfaces.

No footwear can prevent every slip because water, oil, dust, surface angles, and outsole wear all affect performance. Sandals World should therefore test each rubber compound and tread design before making specific slip-resistance claims.

Together, these three layers present a new direction for Thailand sandals. The upper expresses Thai craft knowledge, the middle introduces a renewable feedstock, and the outsole adds value to Thai natural rubber.

This approach allows Art & Craft Sandals to unite beauty, comfort, practical performance, and environmental responsibility within one product.

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Sustainable Thai Craft Sandals Must Go Beyond One Material

The environmental impact of footwear begins with raw materials and continues through design, production, transportation, use, and end-of-life management.

Sustainable Thai Craft Sandals should therefore progress across several areas at the same time: increasing renewable inputs, designing for comfort and durability, creating fair economic value for artisans and communities, and publishing verifiable environmental information.

In the future, Sandals World could strengthen SW GREEN by reporting the bio-based content of each material grade, defining the boundaries of its carbon-footprint calculations, tracing its natural rubber, monitoring durability, and developing repair or take-back options.
Clear evidence would help customers make decisions based on measurable progress rather than advertising language.

From One Pair of Sandals to Change That Keeps Moving

BIO EVA is not a perfect material that can solve every environmental problem. It also does not make sandals biodegrade automatically after disposal.

Still, it represents a meaningful step because it can replace part of the fossil-derived carbon with renewable carbon while preserving the performance required for comfortable footwear.

When Sandals World combines this material with contoured comfort, Thai natural rubber, and artisan skills, SW GREEN can become more than a material-development project. It can connect material science with the value of Thai craftsmanship.

With transparent measurement and responsible communication, Sustainable Thai Craft Sandals can move from an inspiring idea to a practical choice one step at a time.

𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙’𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙗 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙨

ABOUT THE CONTENT CREATOR

BUNTHARIK INSIRI

(Content Writer)

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Sandals World | Art & Craft Sandals | Sustainable Thai Craft Sandals Tags: handmade sandals, sandals world, foot health,
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