Winner of a Silver Best Award, AUT Design student, Jacob Smith has now put his biodegradable and sustainable shoelaces up for sale.

“The idea came about in an Auckland University of Technology (AUT) project during my second year of industrial design. At the time I was running a business selling shoe accessories, and realised how unsustainable a lot of the products were. After exploring all the properties of wool I saw an opportunity to really explore shoelaces and create something better for the planet,” explains Jacob Smith, creator behind the Woo-Lace.

It is stylish, washable, good for and the planet and don’t come undone – making it the perfect winner for the Silver Best Award for a Student & Academic Product in 2024.

The Woo-Lace is made from New Zealand sourced strong wool, making these shoelaces sustainable and durable.

“Strong wool is coarse and thicker wool fibres that are common on sheep breeds such as Romney. The Woo-Lace uses this under-utilised material to create a shoelace that is completely biodegradable and made completely here in Aotearoa,” explains Smith.

Available in four colours, Smith was inspired to create a number of colour ways from vegetable skin waste. And even the aglets are made from biodegradable materials.

“The shoelace is dyed with natural materials and its wool fibres bind together making accidental unties almost impossible,” he adds.

The laces are made from strong wool from Palliser Ridge Farm in the Wairarapa, the Woo-laces are dyed different colours using food waste like onion, cabbage, lettuce, avocado skins and coffee grounds.

How did Smith get here though?

Read more: Kiwi invention gets recognised on the global stage

Smith says that when it came to the process, he underwent a lot of exploration. And it is not just which wool but how the material works under different processes such as knitting, felting and so much more.

“Once I tried a bunch, I struck gold on the knitting structure and everything took off from there,” he says.

“In the initial product creation phase I had a heap of fun creating different eco dyes. I honestly felt like Walter White from Breaking Bad, just mixing up difference batches with slightly different dye qualities in a big pot trying to perfect colours. Was super fun.”

From there, Smith says he was struggling to sell from increments of 10s all the way to 1000s.

Now, Smith sells the Woo-Lace via his very own site, Steaddi, and is considering the Woo-Lace as “volume one” of innovation and change to the shoe market.

“We want to make the best shoelace there is and be the new normal for every shoe,” he says.

“Furthermore, we want to expand further into the streetwear market, selling more products that fit our brand ethos and make the world a better place by challenging simple products. This needs to happen while ensuring we stick to our brand values of innovation, community, empathy and enjoyment; not creating things for the sake of monetising, creating things for people to come together, understanding everyone’s journeys are different and creating products that are fun and exciting.”