Seems Taoist Philosopher Lao-tzu (quoted in the title) was really on to something – Today I rediscovered Worn Again, an ethical brand from the Sustainable lifestyle charity Anti-Apathy. Worn again is a shoe (mainly trainers) and bag collection made entirely from recycled materials more often viewed as rubbish such as seatbelts, leather car seats, bicycle tyres, recycled rubber, other shoes and binned textiles, including parachute silk.

All shoes, including Worn Again, are 100% recyclable. If you’ve come to the end of the road with your Worn Agains, please donate them to your local charity shop, or find out your nearest European Recycling Company (ERC) drop off point. They take all footwear, in any condition. The aim of ERC and of Worn Again is to prevent shoes ending up in rubbish dumps or being incinerated when there is still useful life in them.

They’re now also producing a ‘Virgin’ range, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic -

WORN AGAIN VIRGIN is a unique range of bags made out of old Virgin Atlantic seat covers and other ingredients, including car seat belts, post-Glastonbury tents and bicycle inner tubes.
Worn Again is working with Virgin Atlantic to meet its goal to halve the waste it sends to landfill by 50% by 2012.

At £60 the bags aren’t cheap but they’re each unique and handmade and it’s definitely a recycling effort we can support. Unfortunately they don’t seem to do any boots but I shall be adding them to my watch list in case they come up with an inventive way to help me get through a soggy London winter without resorting to buying leather or wearing my wellies to work!