FSNYE combines social justice and sustainability with Agency Footwear

PHOTO IMAGES: DANIEL QUINTANILLA

SUSTAINABLE FAIRNESS

The Footwear Show New York Expo kicked off its December 2024 edition today at Park Lane Hotel here in New York City with sustainability, one of the many issues included in the fight for change. It’s more than a longstanding issue that many are concerned about human beings are being treated unfairly by the establishment. Now, the call for sustainability has grown more and more, taking footwear away from fast-fashion and into a centerpiece manufactured by the environment. Enter Agency Footwear, who strives not only with sustainability, but teams up with “The Gathering For Justice” founded by the late Harry Belafonte, to create a shoe that speaks to the struggle for social justice.

Based out of Brooklyn, New York, Agency Footwear plus “The Gathering For Justice” have created a footwear collection partnership where proceeds go directly to support this formative movement. At its core, Agency Footwear is a sustainable collection entirely plant-based, with a triple threat midsole made up of D-LITE plant based foam, recycled PET, and D-VINE plant based rubber that’s oil-free, and mainly vegan hands down. Agency Footwear’s unisex sneakers are fueled by inspiration, they’re purposely engineered to withstand the long hours of marching along the streets when protesting unfairness. You are armored with a cushioned core and a supportive cradle with flex grooves, plus engineered secure foot placement that keeps your foot at a perfect arch level, smoothly walking to fight for the greater good.

Agency Footwear’s partner, “The Gathering For Justice”, works to transform the criminal legal system and advance civil rights to build a beloved community grounded in justice, equity, and compassion. “The Gathering for Justice” is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2005 by the late, iconic artist and activist Harry Belafonte after he witnessed a news report of a 5 year old black girl being handcuffed and arrested in her Florida classroom for “being unruly”. Racial profiling doesn’t just exist with young black men pulled over by the police, it exists in obvious, and not so obvious forms where it’s nothing but appalling. Not just in handcuffs, but also when applying for a job, a mortgage or loan, and as small as social groups do minorities get discriminated, and disenfranchised.

AGENCY Footwear LLC was founded in 2023 in Brooklyn, NY by Mathew Drazic, a career shoe designer with experience at New Balance, Diesel, Converse and Rykä when it was owned by Michael Rubin. More than he ever expected as a career, it was filled with mixed emotions once he finally learned the full depth of how capitalist corporations and governments have impacted history through colonialism. No longer blissfully unaware of the massive unintended consequences of an unsustainable consumer economy and driven by his personal experience with the universal truth that – no child is responsible for the situation they’re born into – he walked away from corporate America to start a new sneaker brand.

Mathew has 4 all important “P” words and symbols that represent Agency Footwear… People, Planet, Power, and Purpose. Each of these aspects do a great deal of work to stress the constant fight for justice in humanity. But one important symbol to look out for in all the 4 “P’s” are the “Olive Branch”, securing the opportunity of growing this movement, and friendship to others. Creating a footwear brand based on social justice starts the revolution, and backing it up with the longstanding substance of Mother Nature will propel Agency Footwear with “The Gathering For Justice” to a moment where it’s not just one purpose, but a mission to entirely heal injustice.

DANIEL QUINTANILLA