THE DIFFERENTS feat. MAKE GOOD®

I got introduced to Paul in Dec ‘24 at a venue in North Fremantle WA when I was there for annual West Tech Fest startup conference, and the Make Good® story was one I just couldn’t stop thinking about. The size of the environmental impact problem courtesy of school shoes. The creation of a bio-based solution thanks to mycelium. The product development process, Paul’s history in big brands and where that’s lead to now... it was just such an interesting conversation, I had to get the story and put it out there, especially as I ponder what global scale looks like for the team. So voila, here’s the chit-chat, hope you enjoy hearing about something very very new.👇️

Gaz:

Paul, welcome! This article is being released on World Sustainability Day 2025, so let’s chat about…shoes! And the environmental and sustainable element behind your company (been looking forward to writing about this one)

Paul:

Yep, well the concept for Make Good® was born through the emergence of next-generation materials and biotechnologies. And I think these emerging bio-based products enabled us to mimic petrochemical-based products and somehow appease that market.

And so we could build products using more bio-based materials. So essentially, we’re designing products with the end of life in mind.

And so with that, then you can reverse-engineer what you're trying to achieve. And at the same time, there was an emergence of brands such as Allbirds, Pangaea, and some of these communities that were gaining traction with new generations of buyers that had environmental consequences at the front of their mind.

They felt climate change was a significant factor in their lives moving forward. And anything that they could do to reduce their environmental impact was something that was meaningful to them, and they would engage in these products.

Way way back, podiatry led me to footwear - 25+ years and 150,000 consults in, and I loved into the consumer footwear side.

John Prescott (fmr director of ASICS Global) and I had worked on a project previously in Europe, which was the Osaka Hockey Project, where we worked with the world's largest independent hockey brand to launch a shoe for the Tokyo Olympics successfully.

COVID time forced me to return from Europe with the family back to Perth to live, and that's when we were sitting down and working out what's next, and this concept was born as to how we could use our skill sets to further.

Gaz:

Ok great, next question was going to be about getting started on the initial germs of the idea for the first shoe design.

Paul:

Yep, so we started a new project, leveraging off our network and skill sets. Aisha Kujik is our designer, based in Antwerp, and she is considered a global leader in bio-based materials through her platform called Haute Matter.

If you compare it to another industry such as the airline industry, the airline industry is 2.4%. I guess some of these industries have sorted themselves out, like the airline industry have a voluntary carbon credit program through their regulatory body course here, where people have the opportunity to offset their carbon. And in 2026, that's actually compulsory. So you don't have an option but to pay for that in your ticket.

But in the textiles or footwear industry, there really is no governing body outside of more recent EU regulation (coming next year)

So some other key stats are: if the footwear industry was a country, it would be the 17th largest polluter in the world.

It's quite a significant amount of energy-intensive manufacturing process, plus the logistics. 80% of the carbon comes from the components in the shoe. There's over 40 components per pair.

So the whole idea of designing a shoe is designing it with less components and using low-carbon-cost materials and reducing a reliance on petrochemicals at any cost.

So a standard school shoe would have 60 to 80 kilograms of carbon in it. Would be responsible for about 8,000 litres of water and a couple of kilos of toxic chemicals in the tanning process, which includes PFAS (Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl substances) and chromium.

Gaz:

So, we’re talking about school shoes specifically in that scenario, the amount of chemicals, rather than shoes broadly?

Paul:

Yep, that would be Derbys a leather shoe. So you could broadly classify it as having, you know, 60 to 80 kilos of carbon, 8000 litres of water and two to two-and-a-half kilograms of toxic chemicals.

When we receive them on the rack, they look amazing and they're shiny, but at some point at end of life, they have to be disposed of, and that will nearly always end up in landfill. And at some point - over decades - these shoes will ultimately biodegrade and those toxic chemicals will end up in the waterways or microplastics in our oceans.

We’re seeing this now in dams in Sydney and around Australia with PFAS popping up and this is something that previously wasn’t there. It’s not natural, it’s a forever chemical, and this is a result of human impact and we just need to be more aware of that.

That’s where this idea is born where we can now use materials which are next-generation bio-based and they have less impact on the environment, and certified biodegradable where possible.

Gaz:

Wow, I do remember you telling me this some time ago when we first met in person, and that was most definitely a fact that I was not familiar with. And so, to lean into the Make Good® process a little more - in particular to lean into the mushroom talk- let’s talk about the solution to the problem that you’ve invented here?

Paul:

Well, again in COVID, this was something very positive to work towards, and what took importance was what we call biomimicry. Everywhere you look, nature does it better.

If you look at something such as that famous photo of that guy standing on the hill with bird's wings on his arms in the early 1900s or whatever, he’s obviously trying to mimic what a bird would do, to fly. And that evolved to a wing, then they worked out it wasn't flapping, but was instead the shape of the wing that caused the lift, and then we moved towards the Wright brothers for flight etc.

The same goes for honeycomb, for example, which is an amazing structure that we use for strength. Or if we look at termite mounds and ventilation in architecture.

And so the biomimicry side of things is something that really interested me.

Mycelium being the fibre network under the ground, has the mushroom as the fruit, and can produce a weave, which cannot be replicated by machines or humans. It's this incredible structure.

And early on, this was recognised as something that can be used in material science for anything from what’s in our shoes today versus packaging or anything, because you can just grow it.

So a part of that next generation materials category industry, is using mycelium as a base and then blending that with a cellulose for example, which is a biopolymer derived from agricultural waste, and then you've got a natural latex blended in there as well.

Once that’s farmed in sheets, you can apply it as a replacement for leather products in this case.

So, to answer the mushroom question, there would be two classifications of the materials:

One is the organic material, which is essentially getting a banana leaf, and wrapping it around something, and calling that packaging.

Then there's bio-based materials, which is getting that banana leaf or that mushroom or mycelium or that cellulose and putting it through a closed-loop chemical process.

The outcome is then the material. And so we actually use bio-based materials, which does use that closed-loop process.

Then outside of that, the materials are then certified in certain categories and graded, so we aim for certified biodegradable where possible, so that the user is able to eventually throw the product away and have minimal impact on the environment.

Gaz:

Oh, that's amazing. So what are the realities of this process from a production and R&D phase, tears and all?

Paul:

Yeah, it's one word, actually, two words: Extremely Traumatic.

It was the hardest thing you could possibly do. Off the back of an athletic footwear project, which was end-to-end really quick and easy.

I think we've seen in the bio-based materials space, a lot of companies really struggling. It's because it’s taken a lot longer to get these materials ready for market than what everyone expected. And it's huge investment, massive investment in these materials companies.

I remember raising amongst family and friends to get the first prototype done, and the process obviously starts with the concept, then we hand over the brief to Aisha our designer.

Then there’s a couple of back and forths with what we’re looking for, to try and appease that school shoe market and also that sort of fashion market, if we wanted to go there.

Then once you've done that, you have to work out how we can do it with as minimal components as possible, which is what I've discussed before.

And then, you go to the process of prototyping, so we'd find a prototype partner to do that with, to work closely with a materials company.

I remember receiving the first pair - and you've got to remember, this was around the time that logistics was going just ballistic in costs - I think it cost me something like near $600 to get a pair of shoes sent from China to Perth, and air freight, obviously.

That process took over three-and-a-half years, and it was working closely with the materials companies and obviously our development team and John, who's head of our materials sourcing and development, looking for the most environmentally conscious way of developing the shoes as well.

So yes, the prototype phase, I would say we're somewhere between - I won't count exactly - but we're somewhere between 10 and 15 different sample rounds to get to a point.

Gaz:

Wow. Okay. Not insignificant at all. The hard thing about hard things, isn't it?

Paul:

Then wear-testing - every time we had a pair produced, give ourselves eight weeks to wear test that. Then you say “no, ok, we’re not ready yet, we’ve got to go back and do some more.”

And then it sort of got to that point of when we’re ready to go to market. This is a space that is not set in stone - if we talk about the athletic footwear industry, I could be pretty certain that what I put on my feet next year will be pretty similar to this year.

Bio-based materials improve year upon year. So even though we'll have the same shoe, next year the materials will be improved and the year after the materials will be improved.

The processes will be improved. The go-to market strategies. It’s all focused on reducing our impact and making it easy for customers to also.

Also, there's penalties, right? The penalties are that these materials cost a bit more, plus behave a little bit differently. So, I think we're taking a bit of a pink diamond approach to it where we hope our users acknowledge that imperfections can sometimes be - you know - little treasures. A big part of that process is educating our users that it’s not actually leather. It's designed to replace leather and behave like leather, but it's subtly different.

Gaz:

And that obviously feeds into responsibilities on the side of the consumer making more conscious decisions, so I’d expect there to be more empathy and understanding as part of that process, but ultimately they’re buying into the vision of the brand and product.

Paul:

You know, we've already got a few hundred people. lined up to be a part of the journey. They want to engage early. And over the years, they want to see things evolve, and our aim is full, certified biodegradability.

So the components that we buy would be certified biodegradable. Right at the moment, the only thing that’s an issue is that the sole unit is currently rated at 51%. We could go to 70% bio-based, but it wouldn’t be as durable.

I really need the consumers to have a confidence in the product durability now, and we’ll evolve eventually to a fully biodegradable shoe. 

Gaz:

Well, that’s an amazing explainer of product development process, even with how lengthy and painful it is.

With wealth transfer across generations and future spending habits being driven by that younger, more environmentally conscious generation, let’s now take a look at Make Good® branding, which is quite youthful. Can we talk about conscious consumerism and the marketing and positioning of the brand with that younger group the priority?

Paul:

Another great topic to talk about because it's something that I've thought about a lot. I'm approaching 50 very quickly, and have three kids, with my oldest just turned 16 and my youngest 12.

I’ve seen them go through this transition into teenagers, and I've tried to relate to them the best I can, as a daggy dad, but seeing the world through a Gen Z lens is something that I could never really grasp.

Obviously, it's very digital heavy, but when we were talking about the branding and the approach to where do we want to go with this, it was very much around trying to relate to that Gen Z lens.

I think all of those notes came through in what Ben (Wright) was trying to achieve. Ben's our creative director, and for Gen Zs who are so attached to a digital landscape, I think the PlayStation 1 graphics aesthetic are really identifiable as being a different generation to them.

And I could see that in my daughters when they were wear-testing the shoes to school. It was a bit of a “yeah, okay, we'll do it for you, Dad.”

But then when the branding hit and this soft launch came, it was a great reception, and connection, and validation, and a true moment of attracting that generation's interests.

Gaz:

How about we centre on your for a second here now Paul, in regards to your role as founder, where you're building this brand up from nothing to put it out there in go-to-market for the first run.

As opposed to your past where you're a very experienced person designing in these huge global companies that have decades of brand building and where you may inherit a sort of trend-based shift towards different brand positioning.

How has that now felt for you to see the concepts that you’re directly shaping, with a small operation, inventing new things, in an emotional capacity?

Paul:

Oh yes, emotional. For so long, I was so heavily focused on product development. That would keep me up at night. The branding, I always knew that it would be delivered in a way which would relate, it was just due to the skill sets we’ve engaged and the community around Ben and his ability to deliver. So I was always really confident on that side of things.

Their input into the product development design was spot on and their understanding of the market. So I guess for me, it's amazing that I had identified with Make Good® as a product… but in more recent times, I’ve now learned to identify with it as a brand.

And it's only when you have other people, when you talk about your baby and you have other people like peek into the pram and have a look, they're always going to say, “oh, isn't it adorable?”

But you just sort of half doubt whether they're just saying that, but I think in this case, we've just had this really positive feedback into how it's been hit, and I think those notes, we actually had to engage a copywriter who has specific experience in just the right notes in messaging, and I think that's part of the brand as well as to ensure that we have those notes, and one particular line of ‘feed the worms’ is an excellent term that has been developed.

And I think that's exactly what we want to do. All we want to do is just feed the worms, you know. That ultimately means biodegradability. I think that from the outset sort of set the tone. And from there, it's been delivered perfectly in my view. Dare I say, we’ve got some bigger and better things to look forward to in the next couple of months, which if that's a teaser, it's pretty exciting.

Gaz:

So, as we begin to round out our chat, let’s talk about scarcity. You’ve gone out with a 50 pair run to start: how did that process go in terms of filling that allocation?

And then what does that look like for next opportunities for people to get their hands on it? Next/new product lines etc.

Paul:

Yeah, so with the brand I’m totally comfortable being small at the right time. I appreciate footwear, especially in this space, is one step at a time. We've got three schools that have engaged with us that are willing to have a try-on rack in their uniform shop, and we believe this is a first.

So there's a lot of firsts, actually. It's probably the first fully bio-based certified biodegradable uppers, and then the first time that schools have actually engaged in this manner, because they obviously view their uniform mandate as a problem, and they're willing to try and overcome by helping us with our go-to market strategy.

And so we'll have a simple try-on rack where students, when they're trying their uniforms on, can put the shoes on and they can QR code them, and it will send them a pair from our third-party logistics within a couple of days.

So that's the new pathway to market. We do have some higher-end fashion reach that we're talking to at the moment as to whether we can have a similar arrangement, and then we'll have a direct-to-market approach, D2C online.

Then the demand for the 50 pairs was, we had over 75 applicants for those 50 pairs, and they were exclusively in a size 7 US and a size 9 US.

For us, we were really impressed with that because it's a small part of the market that we can capture, and we had over 300 applicants line up to be a part of the community as a part of our first 1,040 pairs, which drop in November.

So I think it's extremely hard selling black closed-in shoes in the middle of summer in Australia. It's just one of those things, and it's a very specific market if we're focusing on the school shoe market. From our feedback that we've had from our wear-testers, it's more fashion-focused.

The reason why we're sort of focusing on the school shoe market is it's closed and it's a significant problem with over a million kids wearing black school shoes in Australia every year, and it's a problem that we feel we can help solve.

Then, there’s the hospitality market as well for the fashionistas, if you like, and that's another space.

So what am I predicting? I think we will move 1,000 pairs really quickly and then it's a matter of setting ourselves for a solid agenda in the coming year. Probably a heavy focus on the EU with the new circular fashion regulations that are coming in next year.

Every product will have to have a digital passport, and those that have lower impact on the environment will be favoured.

Gaz:

And just really quickly if ok: a brief explainer on how you’ve funded Make Good® up until now?

Paul:

The funding part was exhausting and the shareholders have been amazing. Family, close friends, big supporters of the venture. Last year I approached a number of funds around the concept and it was more likely sitting outside their mandates where we had to demonstrate revenue before they would look into it.

And that's what we'll do following this run of 1,000 pairs. We'll demonstrate not only the product side of things, not only the market appetite, but we'll also start testing the waters for a larger investment to expand.

And so that's definitely on the cards for next year. And I think that would indicate to us that the family and friends will probably be outside of that zone by then.

I think family offices are a good fit for this type of business, having a solid partner to guide us through to that point where we can expand domestically and then internationally, as something that we would like to have.

Gaz:

Alright Paul, lastly Q now, I’ll ask something relatively provocative: if you were to challenge the market, on one hand ideal customers such as schools etc, and then on the other hand challenge investors on how to think of this opportunity, how would you position that?

Paul:

Challenging investors… I think, everyone's got their own investment strategies and their own ideas, however, I think you’d appreciate ESG has become more prevalent amongst portfolios. I think it's a popular way to invest. So I think definitely that's the type of investor that we would like is investors that are looking at their portfolios and wondering whether they've got enough balance toward unlisted high risk. Ventures that ultimately have a positive impact on the environment and that the community embrace them and engage with them.

Gaz:

And then on the customer side?

Paul:

Well, they're our ultimate partners. When we have schools engage with us, that tells us that the schools are interested in reducing their impacts.

And they're the partners that we want to work with. And so that's a part of the scale up plan is to have as many schools as we possibly can on these try on racks in uniform shops and modulate that process.

So reaching out to the company directly on a via email is something that we would entertain today. Absolutely to help us with our journey, and especially being Perth based, with 5,000 kilometres of dirt between us and the East Coast, we do need a presence there where 92% of the population is, so some schools from the East Coast would be amazing.

Gaz:

Oh that will absolutely happen fast, thanks for joining for a chat today Paul!

Great chat with Paul regarding the important work they’re doing, for this iteration of THE DIFFERENTS, which is always focused on impact and sustainability champions across a broad range of industries. If you’re finding out about a builder for the first time in this article, that makes me happy. Tell a friend. 👋 - Gaz

Make Good® https://www.mk.gd/

Make Good Instagram: @wearemakegood

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-griffin-7b8729178/

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