How Iri NYC Is Shifting Toward Sustainable Practices With Recycled Fabrics, Bio-Based Materials and Innovative Upcycling Ideas

Janet Yeung’s footwear and accessory brand iRi NYC derives its name from two places of special significance to the designer: her and her grandmother’s hometown of Iri, South Korea, and New York City, where the brand originated as her thesis project at Parsons School of Design.

That thesis project evolved into a unique fashion brand beloved by the likes of Gigi and Bella Hadid. Yeung, who designs the whimsical shoes often featuring the brand’s patented Wavy Outsole, told Footwear News that her grandmother is the main source of inspiration behind the brand, having created her thesis with her in mind. She recalled not only the matriarch’s zest for life — her belief that “as long as you keep your spirit up, age shouldn’t really matter” —  but also the fact that she practiced a sustainable lifestyle in a myriad of ways.

Debuting in 2017, iRi has since undergone a relaunch and is now placing a strong focus on transforming their production and distribution methods to be more environmentally-friendly.

Yeung told FN about iRi’s journey toward sustainable practices, explaining, “When we first launched, none of our products had anything to do with sustainable materials. But thankfully, once we moved our production to Korea, I was shocked that they have a lot of availabilities with sustainable footwear materials, finally, and they’re not too expensive. Or we don’t have to order 1000 yards of fabrics to actually use them. So moving the whole production site helped a lot to finally incorporate more sustainable materials into our designs.”

Yeung is proud to say that 65% of designs from iRi’s collection are now made with sustainable materials. The Wes sneaker, a low-top style featuring the brand’s signature Wavy Outsole, accounts for 65% of the company’s sales and is now crafted with recycled neoprene fabric.

The brand’s knit fabrics and part of the neoprene material utilize KrPet yarn made from recycled plastic bottles locally sourced from Korea. Yeung also showed FN a still-in-development outsole crafted from recycled polyurethane, a major step for the brand as that particular shoe component has proved a tricky piece to make both sustainable and durable.

Additionally, iRi insoles are now made from either corn fiber or coconut oil, both of which are bio-based materials. Changes have also been made with the brand’s leather products, with shifts toward recycled leather and non-plastic vegan leather. Yeung pointed out a greenwashing trend she’s experienced in the industry in which some leather alternatives are called “vegan” but still negatively impact the environment since they’re made from petroleum.

She explained, “But this supplier that we found here in Korea, they use a mix of some leftover vegetables, and they compress them. So using these alternative leather fabrics, we’ve also replaced a lot of the real leather products on our boots or heels into these greener kinds.”

Yeung reflected on what she’s learned about the fashion industry’s impact on the environment since working on iRi: “It’s so huge. At school, people talk about, ‘Fashion has to be sustainable, fast fashion, overconsumption.’ We learn that as students, but being in the industry, and actually in the factory, seeing how much waste is produced — [it] was kind of shocking to actually see that. And for shoes, because the components are small and some fabrics they have to cut out in certain ways, so it’s hard to make that zero waste pattern like how we can do with apparels.”

While Yeung noted that some companies discard “good fabric” out of convenience, she took inspiration from shoe brands that have chosen a different, more sustainable path. iRi collaborated with Cueclyp, a Korean company that focuses exclusively on upcycling, to create bags made from leftover materials, each featuring a distinctive pattern. And now iRi is venturing into the home decor space: as a gift-with-purchase, customers will receive upcycled drink coasters made from leftover neoprene and lining fabric. Available in various vibrant colors, the coasters are embroidered with the brand’s logo.

Looking ahead, Yeung hopes iRi can one day support a “360 lifestyle” for shoes in which products can be sent in to be fixed and returned to the owner. Additionally, having primarily built a presence online thus far, she wants to work on creating an in-person experience for customers as well; the team is in talks to create a pop-up in 2025 and transition more into the physical retail space.

While minimizing the brand’s impact on the earth, Yeung wants to create shoes that people of all generations can enjoy: “The core message has always stayed within the same realm of creating something playful, not too serious, but still wearable. Because my biggest dream is for 20-year-olds to wear our shoes, like our age, and then 60-year-olds, like our grandmas, to also rock in them.”