Walking Consciously with Maria Laura Alemann

© OMBU

Maria Laura Alemann and her sisters are the kind of girls-next-door that you’d be proud to know. They created OMBU shoes, an eco-friendly shoe company attempting to make this planet greener, and your walk a little bit sleeker. After talking with Marie, you might take another look at fashion, and start to consider it something more than just looks and names. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

What’s the story of the cool-looking colorful shoe?

My sisters and I created this conscious brand after a trip to Honduras where we volunteered in an orphanage. It inspired us to take action and do something to educate and inspire people as well. Our idea is to create a new generation where consumers can consciously decide what to buy, acknowledging that buy purchasing certain products they are promoting an honest cause. With OMBU for instance, we use ecological leather, fabric bags instead of carton boxes and it comes with a tree seed in a side little pocket. Besides, every time an OMBU shoe is purchased, OMBU will plant a tree.

In what stage of life can we find OMBU today?

It has been a long process, OMBU was originally created in 2007, it started to mature in 2008 and nowadays is in the stage were you can recognize the shoes and OMBU as a brand on the street.

What other brands have you seen or admire, that share the concept of eco-friendly fashion?

There are quite a few brands that are growing around the eco-friendly concept but the ones that we admire are those that really put their heart and try to make a change from the inside out, by being true to themselves. Ecoist is one of the brands that marked a trend in the recycled world. Puresa is also a great company that has been making big efforts to create awareness on human trafficking.

You are also involved with the project LEAVE NO WASTE, can you tell us a little bit more about it?

Leave No Waste is a project that started in April [of] this year with the help of It's IN Miami and GG Art Work, a local artist. Together we try to set an example to our community by cleaning the beaches after enjoying a beautiful day at the beach. Education is the key for change; if we don’t educate our next generation we will not create any mayor change on what’s happening now. It’s amazing the amount and type of trash that you can find at the beach, and most amazing part is that 90% of those people [who litter] are adults, just leaving waste behind, tons of it!!

So far we've done three events and more are coming up. This is what ‘from the heart’ means to me. We are real with our cause, and we are willing to do much more.

When is your next event?

We just had one on September 26^th; our next still is not defined. Maybe November.

As a conscious individual of our planet's situation, what advice can you tell us to implement in our daily?

People tend to think that becoming green is a big effort and takes a lot of work and money. That is not true. It’s just being a little bit more aware of how can you change a habit. I started to change my habits by doing simple exercises like: Unplugging any electronics you are not using, measuring the time you shower and trying to reduce it at least one minute - you won't believe how much water you save!

[Also], don't leave trash on the beach! Just pick up what you brought. Don't throw trash out the window of your car. Don't leave the lights on if you are not in the room. [And] try to recycle, at least [by] separating big containers. 

In February you are having a second exhibition at The Bakehouse Gallery, what can we expect this time after your success at the last exhibit this past July?

This is going to be a great challenge for us since the first time (and still with us) we were featuring local undergraduate artists; very young artists that had a chance to come to light and let everyone know about their work. We lend them our shoes as blank canvas for them to decorate them with their creativity and art.

However, this time, legends of the art with more than 40 years of experience are going to be working on our shoes. This is going to be huge, more than 30 artists will implement their art in our products and even our products will part of their art work. The exhibition is going to run for one month at the amazing Bakehouse Art Complex in Wynwood. We are really flattered to have been chosen as their next project at the gallery.