Ben Galloway is a 2nd generation shoemaker from the small town of Raglan New Zealand. He currently resides in Melbourne Australia, where he is continuing on his mission to become an epic shoemaker!

His father Rob Galloway has ran a successful NZ made leather goods company called Soul Shoes for over 40 years. His products are renowned for their affordability, comfort and durability: With many stories being told of shoes that have lasted well over 20 years! Rob taught himself the craft of shoe making, and naturally passed on some of this DIY ethic to his son Ben.

Ben has worked for Soul for many years, in amongst numerous adventures abroad and tertiary studies. Having completed a degree in Sociology he then embarked on an overseas mission. The idea for Trash Footwear started when he made a pair of sandals from his old jeans to take on this OE. Three years of walking the world wore through the ‘new’ sole but not the ‘old’ jeans! The idea brewed as Ben also saw parts of the world awash in waste! In mid-2011 on his return to Raglan, Trash was born: With the aim to reduce waste through re-use of materials, the long life of its products and, hopefully, by changing the way people think about waste!

page-2 — A page illustrating why I started Trash Footwear, taken from my first promotional zine in 2011.

Ben has been on this mission ever since! Trash Footwear has been a massive DIY project in learning how to create a grass-roots business that is environmentally and socially aware. In developing Trash Footwear:

Ben sourced all reclaimed materials himself, from recycle centres and also direct from local businesses! (some re-used, some new off-cuts)
Ben processed these to the point of re-use
Ben made EVERY pair
Ben developed a brand and social media presence, as well as participating in many media opportunities and industry events
Ben sold through markets, retailers (including Soul Shoes in Raglan and Sitka and Ecostore in Auckland) and at markets/festivals expos

Trash footwear quickly became known in NZ as one of the best examples of up-cycling and re-use: as they were comfortable, stylish and durable. Quite a challenge to be honest, using such a mad array of recycled materials on such a highly functional product as a shoe!

In 2015 I decided the best next steps for me was to take a break from my active development of Trash Footwear in New Zealand, and move to Melbourne to further develop my skills in the craft of shoe making. I attended the cert IV in custom-made footwear at RMIT. This one year course is the only one left of its kind in Australasia, and takes place in a very well equipped workshop under the expert tutelage of Andrew Robinson.

I worked my little butt off for the year and won student of the year! Combining my wide experience with recycled materials to create a number of unique shoes, that combined custom footwear techniques/styles with reclaimed materials and a grungy aesthetic!

rmit-work-110 — My ‘Final’ shoe for the year: A Street Oxford boot. Reclaimed leather lining, front and heel with Rams-head broguing. Woven leather side-panels. Conveyor belt sole.

This course ignited my desire to learn more and more about designing and locally hand-making footwear. I am now putting together a small studio workshop in East Brunswick with the dual aims of:

carrying on my development as an artisan shoemaker, with one-off custom orders by customers fuelling this.
Continuing my mission to use as many locally reclaimed materials as possible. And more importantly the bigger challenge of working out ways to use some of these materials in a way that makes practical business sense! ….. My current number one research currently is how to process car tyres into shoe soles.