XINCA: Footwear produced with recycled tires
According to data from the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI), Argentina's automotive fleet in 2021 consisted of 15 million vehicles, generating a waste of 150,000 tons of tires annually during replacement. This is the raw material that the XINCA sneaker factory in Mendoza reworks, meeting sustainability requirements and minimizing environmental impact. For the three friends who founded the project, the goal was to create products with timeless designs to counteract "fast fashion", which encourages constant clothing turnover. Additionally, with affordable prices, they aim to demystify the notion that sustainability must necessarily be expensive. The majority of the production is carried out by inmates at the San Felipe prison in Mendoza.