PhotoCcilu
TextBecky Tu
Yii Cultural Enterprise held a beach cleanup event called Mission Earth on the weekend of Earth Day. We invited people to help classify marine debris into the categories of PET bottles and non-PET bottles. People wonder,
“Why does it need to classify the category of PET bottles?” We say, “Because someone can transform these discarded PET bottles into shoes!”
The chance that brings Yii Cultural Enterprise and Ccilu International Company together is the so-called ''world first circular-economy solution as the slipper made by marine debris'' - New Taiwanese-style Slipper. Ccilu manufactures a pair of these slippers with its patented technology by using five marine debris PET bottles and three recycled oyster shells. Do you want to join us to together support this shoe-making brand that utilizes discarded materials to Go Green?


With the family background of a veteran shoe-making group in Taiwan, Wilson Hsu uses Ccilu's substantial and excellent techniques far exceeded by the same trade to build up a road that others feel is tough and nearly impossible to imitate in the same industry of shoe-making.
All of Ccilu's footwear products are made from recycled waste and discarded materials. For example, Telic Footwear praised as the best pressure relief shoe brand in the USA is under the Ccilu group, and its footwear product is made from the refined silica-content waste recycled from the semiconductor industry of Taiwan. And a pair of the New Taiwanese-style Slippers are made of five marine debris PET bottles and three recycled oyster shells, which is a footwear product that aims to achieve the goal of ''circular economy localization.'' Moreover, there are two more waterproof shoe products, one of which is the waterproof casual footwear made by coffee grounds and the other is the BackToMarket shoe, a retro-inspired sneaker made from waste from the agriculture and fishing industry. Ccilu's footwear designs had so far been awarded more than twenty prizes including the German Red Dot Design Award, the German iF Product Design Award, and the Sustainable Product Prize of the Italian A' Design Award.


Transforming Recycled Waste into New Shoes
Wilson says Ccilu has six core techniques and four of them are that exactly use recycled waste from different industries to manufacture the products. Waste that Ccilu recycles includes coffee grounds, PET bottles and marine debris, silicon wafer waste, and agriculture and fishing industries' waste. Therefore, waste from these four industries is transformed into Ccilu's product materials. As for the goal of "Net Zero Emissions by 2050," the measures that Ccilu recycles industrial waste actually give the solution to the industries which face up to carbon emissions issues against the GHG protocol's Scope 3 Standard.

And, while Ccilu recycles industrial waste, it solves the company's carbon emissions issues of the GHG protocol's Scope 1 Standard. In other words, recycling industrial waste means reducing other industries' GHG protocol's Scope 3 emissions, and it reduces Ccilu's GHG protocol's Scope 1 emissions simultaneously. Wilson Hsu concludes it's a win-win strategy.
Except for the upcycling and transforming techniques used for the mentioned four categories of industrial waste, the other two techniques support recycling at the end of Ccilu's product life cycle. Even though these products are sold to consumers, after using them for a while, they will eventually become rubbish.
Ccilu further utilizes the Pyrolysis technology: creates a vacuum, in the absence of oxygen, for the discarded shoes at approximately 400 to 500 degrees centigrade, and transforms them into renewable energy. Technically a pair of shoes can be converted into two degrees of electricity. Furthermore, Ccilu achieves 100 percent recycling plus reproducibility. It means that after a pair of shoes is used and then discarded, Ccilu can recycle them and upcycle them into new shoes. That will give the consumers a chance to wear these shoes for second-round use.

A Plan of Net Zero Emissions
Wilson Hsu mentions that Ccilu hopes to finish the first net zero product line by the end of 2023. And all the product lines are estimated to reach net zero emissions by the end of 2025. Compared to the finish line of 2050, Ccilu has planned the schedule and will attain the result ahead of the estimated.
Recently, Ccilu also reaches a significant milestone in sustainable development and performance including being awarded the Business Weekly Top 100 Net Zero Companies, the Global Views Monthly 2022 CSR and ESG Awards, and DBS Bank's Asian Best Social Enterprises Award. Meanwhile, Ccilu also acquires the B Corp Certification, the Asian first shoe-making company to win this certification. CIO Views, a business magazine, tops Ccilu as one of the "10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Watch in 2021." And the Global Business Leaders Magazine lists Ccilu as one of the "30 Fastest Growing Companies To Watch In 2022."

Using the SDGs to Support Go Green Locally
While the same trades move their shoe-making supply chains to Southeast Asia hurriedly, Ccilu announces it will manufacture a pair of ''global lowest carbon footprint shoes.'' Whether the process of scavenging, recycling, and manufacturing, Ccilu persists in all of the shoe-making processes 100 percent made in Taiwan. Therefore, a resource recycling yard named ''Lab-22'' in the Wanhua District is born.

Why Wanhua? Wilson Hsu says it's the edge of the urban area in Taipei City. It's the oldest district and many living environments are quite aged. So a high amount of the scavengers live here as well. Now Lab-22 has collaborated with twenty elder scavengers. And Ccilu would purchase the discarded PET bottles collected by the scavengers at three times the price. The Lab-22 doesn't just give financial assistance and care to the elder scavengers but transforms the lab into a society classroom. The Lab-22 brings Ccilu and local non-profit organizations to collaborate and even brings the chance that other non-profit organizations are willing to support going green locally as well.
Telling A Compelling Brand Story to Customers Who Wanna Hear
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the past three years, many overseas employments return to Taiwan. However, Taiwan's market has just 30 percent of the company's global revenue. So we have to figure out how to increase sales revenue in Taiwan's market. But, implicated by the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot open any brick-and-mortar shops. Therefore, our team first puts a bold face on trying the crowdfunding platform to find out new business opportunities.
Wilson Hsu says, as the company runs smoothly now, and we have concept-inspired techniques and products, we should find out and focus on our target audience who are the youngest and willing to hear the future of the branding. So, here comes Ccilu's first pair of XpreSole Coffee Shoes which launches on the crowdfunding platform!
We launched the first product in the spring of 2020. The sales revenue reached ten million new Taiwan dollars within two months. Our team realizes that all the target audiences on the crowdfunding platform are willing to know different products through hearing special stories. Later on, we started to promote our products. In the past three years, Ccilu made approximately ten sales proposals on the crowdfunding platform and the accumulated sales revenue reached seventy to eighty million new Taiwan dollars. Wilson Hsu says with a smile, “we suppose to be the king of the crowdfunding platform in Taiwan.”
As soon as finding those who are willing to hear a compelling brand story, Ccilu's sustainable go-green dreams will get support and move forwards boldly!

Ccilu International Company's Footwear Launching
Lab-22 Taiwan
GreenPlax®
Telic
Biion