P448 Continues to Highlight the Environmental Dangers of Invasive Fish Species With Latest Capsule

P448 has launched its third collection made with invasive fish leather as part of its Project Sustainability initiative.

The Italian footwear brand is using bluestripe snapper, known locally in Hawaii by its Tahitian name, ta‘ape, for its newest capsule aimed at bringing awareness to the issues posed by invasive fish in fragile ecosystems. The capsule follows P448’s previous collections featuring lionfish and carp leather.

For Wayne Kulkin, chief executive officer of P448, these capsule collections are all about what’s good for the environment. “We see using the skins of invasive species in our footwear as an opportunity to help prevent future environmental degradation, while repurposing existing resources and replacing other materials in the process,” Kulkin said.

Through the brand’s partnership with Conservation International—an environmental non-profit focused on science, policy, and collaboration with businesses, governments, and communities—P448 has sourced 2,000 ta‘ape skins from the island of Moloka‘i for this capsule collection.

And in the interest of circularity, P448 added that after the fish had been skinned, the meat was donated to a local charter school and allocated as food security for people in need within the community. The fish bones were used as fertilizer for a local farm, while the rest of the fish donated to science research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to aid in its reproduction study on ta‘ape, the company noted. 

“Throughout the globe, climate change is expected to exacerbate the impacts of invasive species,” Matt Ramsey, senior director of Conservation International’s Hawaii program, said in a statement. “We need to be developing solutions to address this challenge while meeting other growing needs such as food security and community resilience. We are honored to be a part of this innovative collaboration because it does exactly that. By removing ta‘ape, the initiative benefits Hawaii’s native marine life, feeds communities, and supports the local economy.”

What’s more, P448 partnered with Aquaborne, a tannery that specializes in aquatic leather manufacturing utilizing only eco-friendly materials and processes to transform the ta‘ape into fish leather.

“Tanning cold-blooded fish skins is completely different than tanning hides from cattle or other warm-blooded animals,” Nodar Narsavidze, managing partner at Aquaborne, added. “Layered with the fact that each fish skin is unique, the process can become quite complex as what can work with one fish skin may not apply to another fish skin.”

The result is an update to P448’s signature low-top John sneaker, which is detailed with ta‘ape fish leather on its heel in a rainbow of colors including yellow, blue, orange, fuchsia and vanilla.

Each pair of the ta‘ape sneakers are numbered, and are now available at P448.com and select global wholesale partners for $298. Ten percent of the purchase price will help Conservation International protect oceans around the globe, P448 noted.