Casca recently teamed up with Volvo Cars Canada to co-design a limited edition shoe inspired by their XC40 Recharge. It was released for this year’s World Car Free Day; an event which was established to encourage people all over the world to consider their personal impact on air pollution and the environment.
On this episode of ‘A Lot to Learn’, our podcast hosts Braden Parker and Mike Reid talk to Volvo Car Canada’s Managing Director, Matt Girgis, about the future of electric vehicles, sustainability, and more. Prior to this role, Girgis held several positions throughout the Volvo organization, including Vice President & CFO and Deputy Head of Finance & Controller in the Americas Region, wherein he relocated to New Jersey.
The Casca and Volvo collaboration was born out of a shared passion for technology, modernist design, and sustainability. It became clear very quickly that both brands were incredibly aligned on all fronts. Volvo exhibits a particular mindfulness not just about sustainability on a surface level, but about the supply chain and changing the way things are traditionally done.
While marketing within so many industries is ripe with “greenwashing”– a term used to denote companies that use eco terms to generate sales– Volvo has a clear and actionable mission. Volvo’s ethos is rooted in safety; they were the first car company to introduce the 3 point seat belt system, and their mission to create safe automotives has become rooted in their DNA. But with the effects of climate change so apparent in today’s world (natural disasters, rising temperatures), safety has taken on a whole new meaning for Volvo. It’s no longer strictly about the people in their cars but about the planet and people all over the world.
By 2030, Volvo plans to change their product portfolio to be fully electric. But their goals extend far beyond making electric vehicles– they aim to address emissions across the entire supply chain by working with manufacturing facilities to implement better practices. This includes increased use of recycled and bio-based materials, use of new technologies like blockchain to have better traceability, remanufacturing over 50 different parts of the car, producing their own climate neutral energy and increasing energy efficiency in their plants. All of these things are steps they are taking to achieve their big-picture goal: to be climate neutral by 2040.
Casca’s mission is rooted in changing the way things are traditionally done by rethinking footwear to create durable, customized shoes that better the wearer’s health and everyday abilities. And by creating high-quality, long lasting products, both Volvo and Casca prove that sustainable measures won’t compromise performance. Volvo’s readiness to create a campaign around World Car Free Day (an initiative inherently contradictory to their own product) exhibits their dedication to creating a better world and encouraging people everywhere to rethink the way they move.
