Ethical Statement

Walter Hoy created the first Salt-Water Sandal in 1944 from scrap leather leftover from making military boots in World War II. The original pair of sandals were made for Walter's daughter, Margery. Now, 80 years on, The Hoy family continue to manufacture Salt-Water Sandals and they are now worn and loved the world over by adults and kids alike. 

Salt-Water Sandals produces sandals in both the USA and in China.

Salt-Water Sandals still produce sandals on the original 1940s machinery in the Hoy factory in Missouri, St Louis.

Due to the high demand as the brand grew, Salt-Water Sandals also started producing sandals in a family-run factory in China. Salt-Water Sandals have been working with the same factory since 2008 and the demand is so great that the factory has now built a dedicated unit. We make the sandals using specific methodologies and the staff have been trained in the traditional way with machines built to match the vintage machines Hoy have always used. These older machines simply didn’t exist anymore!

Hoy Head Office have frequent visits to the China factories to ensure the working conditions and standards upheld in the US are met in China. Hoy also has a third party company that visits quarterly (every 3 months) from the US and who have offices in Taiwan for unscheduled visits.

From 1944 through to this current day, the Hoy family continue to manage all the production of Salt-Water Sandals across the US and China factories. If you have further questions relating to the production, Hoy are happy to hear from you. Email The Hoy Shoe Company here.

Salt-Water Sandals are made from waterproof leather with rust proof buckles, meaning they can be worn in water, this is one of their special advantages.  

We are constantly researching the currently available vegan options for leather and unfortunately so far have not found a suitable leather alternative which doesn’t stretch or warp when wet. We do not want to switch from a material that decomposes (leather) to a plastic equivalent. This means we cannot make vegan sandals just yet! 

So far we have looked at cactus, apple & pineapple leathers, as well as ground up reconstituted waste leather. We would want our vegan customers to also enjoy the water resistant qualities that make Salt-Water Sandals unique, so the material must be able to get wet. 

The brand continues to research and we are actively exploring further options to try and achieve this. If you know of any leather alternatives that are not plastics based, please do let us know!

All of our packaging is 100% plastic free. Our boxes are mostly single construction with no glue, making them easy to recycle.

Our catalogues are no longer printed but 100% digital.

We donate our sandal samples to charities. Read more about this here.

We take part in Beach Cleans to help clear beaches of plastic and rubbish. 

We are actively working on finding a a Pre-Loved sales platform to collaborate with in SEA. Please do watch-this-space!

Unfortunately we do not at the moment. This is however, something we are actively working on introducing. 

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS).
Since 2017 our Silver Original Sandal has been the official sandal of our charity partner The Marine Conservation Society . We donate 10% of all sales of our silver sandals in the UK directly to this important charity supporting marine conservation - fighting for cleaner, better-protected, healthier oceans.

The Young Women’s Trust (YWT).
We donate 10% of sales of our Original Mustard Sandal to The Young Women’s Trust. Young Women's Trust is a feminist organisation working to achieve economic justice for young women, championing young women aged 18 to 30 on low or no pay and creating a more equal world of work and raising young women’s incomes.

The Rainbow Legacy
We donate sandals to The Rainbow Legacy - for women and girls in The Gambia and education for all. The Rainbow legacy gives empowerment and freedom to the community based in The Gambia in West Africa through educational programs and activities and by providing items for their basic needs. 

Care 4 Calais
We donate sandals to Care4Calais A volunteer-run charity supporting refugees. Believing everyone deserves a safe home, they provide essential support to refugees living in the UK, France and Belgium.

SafeNet
A charity empowering survivors to live free from domestic abuse and sexual violence. 

Many escaping violence have to leave their belongings behind so we gladly donated 300 pairs to some of the women and children living in SafeNet refuges.

Every year we aim to donate end of line and photoshoot samples to a variety of charities and causes. Do get in touch if you know of any worthy causes in need of our sandals. 

Read more about our Charity partnership here.

Salt-Water Sandals are designed to last. We focus on delivering ‘sustainable’ products that can be passed down through the generations. If you store them carefully during winter you can wear them with pride for many summers.  All our sandals come with advice on how to care for them and make them last longer. 

In our distribution offices and operations, our team works in compliance with UK & EU working regulations.  

Salt-Water Sandals offices in Asia work to local employment laws.  

Pay to all Salt-Water Sandals team members, no matter where they work, is in line with the law and due to the high level of skills we need in our offices payment is well above the legal minimums.  

To ensure Salt-Water Sandals Health & Safety at work regulations are complied with and regularly monitored Salt-Water Sandals provides safety at work training to nominated staff and follows local regional safety guidelines in its UK, EU and Asian offices. 

Salt-Water Sandals UK/EU and Asia is fully committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment where our staff can work free from discrimination, bullying or harassment.  

The company strives to promote equality opportunity in all our policies, practices and procedures and will vigorously challenge unacceptable conduct. It is our aim to ensure that no employee or job applicant receives less favourable facilities or treatment (either directly or indirectly) in recruitment or employment on any grounds, but especially age, disability, gender/gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (the protected characteristics). All new employees sign a code of conduct that covers Equality, Diversity, Bullying, Harassment and Domestic Violence that was designed by our employees who come from 8 countries and speak 12 languages.

We fully support the Modern Day Slavery Act 2015 objectives to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking. We consider this an essential responsibility in impacting social justice.  
We expect all organisations we engage with to control their global supply chains, improving transparency and accountability; so that together we can contribute to the eradicating the injustice and brutality of modern slavery and human trafficking. We check all suppliers who we work with to ensure they have policies and control to be compliant with the ‘Modern Day Slavery Act 2015’.   

We ensure everyone who works with us understands the ‘Modern Day Slavery Act 2015’. 

We adopt a zero tolerance to modern slavery and human trafficking and all forms of corruption and bribery directly and indirectly associated with these criminal acts. We do not work with any suppliers or associates of any kind who have any record of conviction or offence under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. For more about our full policy please contact us. 

 
Bribery & Corruption 
Salt-Water Sandals UK/EU and Asia operates an anti-bribery and corruption policy to ensure the law is followed and that no member of the Salt-Water Sandals team is open to bribery or corruption. The policy is reviewed annually and all team members have the responsibility for ensuring it is followed and reporting any non-compliance. Disciplinary actions will be taken for any non-compliance. No gifting is permitted unless recorded in the gift register and no gifts can be personally accepted.  

Regular donations are made to charity. 

CSR is very close to Salt-Water Sandals heart and the UK, EU and Asian business are involved with charities, colleges and schools to take opportunities to be part of the local community wherever that is. We engage directly with charities we partner with and do not just offer money donations, for example Beach Cleaning with the MCS & creating specific designs in collaboration.

We also offer internships with business training to local students as well as paid internships with University graduates. Our CEO is available to talk with students or charities on a non-fee paying basis whenever she can. 

We are always open to suggestions and opportunities to help expand our CSR.

Please contact us with anything else you are curious about or any suggestions to help us improve – we are more than happy to hear from you and always looking for ways to learn, improve, and lead as a company.