Croatian eco-sneaker brand Miret wins big at Global Footwear Awards

Miret sneakers – made in Croatia

Croatian eco-sneaker brand Miret has beaten prestigious world brands to win three awards at the Global Footwear Awards. 

Just over six years ago, brothers Domagoj and Hrvoje Boljar, whi are from Duga Resa, a town just outside of Zagreb, launched their Miret sneaker brand which are made of 97% natural materials. 

At the recent Global Footwear Awards, Hrvoje won first place for materials sourcing in the small size company category for the Miret project, and gold in the materials sourcing / biodegradable materials category. Ana Boljar won the silver award for the Miret Forest dark collection for materials sourcing.

“This award is a great recognition for our hard work and continuous research through which we improve our product. We are at the beginning of an era in which sustainability comes first. As ecology is our primary goal, through Miret we try to inform the public and emphasise the urgency of environmental actions. All human activities harm the environment, but there are ways to reduce it. These awards best shows in which direction we are going and what we are striving for,” said Domagoj.

Miret

Creating environmentally sustainable ‘made in Croatia’ sneakers was their guiding line when starting the brand. When it comes to the domestic Croatian market it was a nice step forward in entrepreneurial vision. Although, their target audience far exceeds Croatia’s borders.

Hrvoje, an industrial designer, and Domagoj, an economist, grew their business experience in the world of footwear with their father Josip Boljar, who spent his entire life working in the footwear industry. His most famous footwear brand was Mr. Joseph, whose shoes he designed and manufactured himself in his factory in Duga Resa.

MIRET Co-founders Domagoj and Hrvoje Boljar

Miret ecological sneakers were created from as many as 10 natural materials – hemp, kenaf, flax, cork, wood, corn, jute, eucalyptus, rubber, and 100% natural wool from New Zealand certified to the strictest environmental certificates in the world for animal and environmental safety.

Last year, they launched the second collection of their comfortable and durable soft sneakers on the Kickstarter funding platform, raising over 400,000 kuna. Miret also won the Gold medal at the IDA Design Awards 2020.