XpreSole Panto Rainboots by Wilson Hsu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 Silver A' Design Award in Footwear, Shoes and Boots Design Competition Category.
SilverFootwear· 2021
XpreSole Panto Rainboots
by Wilson Hsu
Client: Ccilu International Inc.
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Footwear Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #120775The Design
About XpreSole Panto Rainboots
XpreSole Panto an ecofriendly spent coffee grounds reused and ultra lightweight rainboot. One pair of boots makes from 15 cups of spent coffee grounds, a massive source of greenhouse gases when they are landfilled. With the circular economy in mind. It upcycles spent coffee ground as the major component. The innovative process covers a pair of boots lifecycles closely associated with community engagements from material harvest to reuse. With the innovative coating technology, XpreSole Panto designs as a rain boot based on a balancing act of sustainability and functionality.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
XpreSole Panto Rainboots is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. XpreSole Panto Rainboots is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. XpreSole Panto Rainboots is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Sustainable Footwear Innovation
We transform coffee waste into revolutionary lightweight footwear. Our award-winning sustainable technology upcycles spent coffee grounds into eco-friendly shoes that combine environmental responsibility with exceptional comfort. Discover our collection of machine-washable, odor-resistant footwear for the conscious consumer.
Explore CollectionInterviews
Grand Interview
Your innovative approach to transforming spent coffee grounds into the XpreSole Panto Rainboots has earned significant recognition, including the Silver A' Design Award - could you walk us through the journey that led to this groundbreaking concept of converting 15 cups of coffee waste into functional footwear?
We saw the massive waste impact of 25 billion kg of spent coffee grounds annually and decided to transform a global problem into a scalable material solution. Instead of just using coffee fabric like others, we developed XpreSole® technology to turn coffee into every major layer of the boot. Each pair upcycles 15 cups of coffee waste. Our goal was not just sustainability — but proof that waste can outperform virgin materials.
The XpreSole Panto Rainboots represent a remarkable intersection of sustainability and functionality - how did you balance the technical challenges of incorporating spent coffee grounds while ensuring the boots maintain their waterproof properties and structural integrity?
We engineered a dual-layer system: the outer shell provides full waterproof protection while the inner bootie uses coffee yarns for breathability and odor control. Each layer is optimized for its own performance role rather than forcing one material to do everything. This allowed us to achieve waterproofing, structural integrity, and comfort simultaneously — while staying ultra-lightweight.
Given that the XpreSole Panto Rainboots are machine-washable up to 100 times, which is unprecedented in rainboot design, could you elaborate on the research and development process that led to this extraordinary durability?
We intentionally designed the boots to be foamless on the inside, preventing water absorption and deterioration during washing. The coffee-infused materials are naturally antimicrobial and hydrophobic. After over 100 accelerated machine wash cycles, the boots showed no performance loss — setting a new benchmark for long-life sustainable footwear.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- XpreSole Panto an ecofriendly SCGs reused and ultra-lightweight rainboot!
One pair of XpreSole Panto makes from 15 cups of Spent Coffee Grounds (SCGs), a massive source of greenhouse gases when they are landfilled. With the circular economy in mind Panto upcycles SCGs as the major component of the boots. Our innovative process covers a pair of boot lifecycles closely associated with community engagements from material harvest to reuse. - Dimensions & Packaging
- For Man's US 9: 11 mm x 29.5 mm x 10 mm for one foot.
Shell: Waterproof; made from a special XpreSole compound containing spent coffee grounds and the best quality and super lightweight EVA.
Lining: XpreSole knitted fabric containing coffee yarn and polyester.
Outsole: Made from a special XpreSole compound containing spent coffee grounds with EVA, covered by high-performance Rubber pads. - Tags
- sustainability, recycle, reuse, upcycle, circular economy, re-purpose, Global warming, climate change, Eco-friendly, Ccilu, XpreSole, lightweight, rainboot
- Production Technology
- Ccilu upcycles the SCGs and makes them into coffee yarns used in the bootie and the sock-liner. Ccilu fuses and foams the SCGs with polyurethane and forms the insole. Ccilu hybrids the SCGs and ethylene-vinyl-acetate and molds the upper shell and the outsole. The upper shell and the bootie perform double insurances of water and dirt proof. The bootie also offers moisture-wicking, odor/mildew-control, and soft-touch to foot skin. The boot has a modern outlook and a fresh coffee smell. Users associate and engage with the coffee culture, the corresponding product design, and the real experiences of circular economy.
- Design Challenge
- XpreSole Panto is the only boot in the world that can be machine-washed up to 100 times.
Other boots are heavy, ugly, smelly, and impossible to be cleaned soundly. However, it adopts high-tech coffee fabrics and composites, while pursuing a modern and progressing design concept, one-third the weight of a traditional rainboot, and carries a fresh coffee smell all the time. The upper shell plus the bootie is 100% water and dirt-proof, while the bootie and the sock-liner are moisture-wicking, fast-drying, and odor/mildew control, furthermore, the outsole is waterproof, responsive, resilient, supportive, and great grip. - Research
- In the past, the industry was simply able to upcycle the SCGs and turn them into fabrics. With the innovations, Ccilu further upcycles the SCGs and turns them into all the other parts of the boots. The tech increases the usage of the SCGs (15 cups of the SCGs for a pair of XpreSole Panto) and makes every major component of the boots come from the SCGs. The coffee story draws genuine interest from the users who play the most critical roles in social movements and the circular economy. XpreSole Panto supports Ccilu to pursue its vision which is to develop the first carbon-neutral footwear by the end of 2021.
- Inspiration
- The world consumes 850 billion cups of coffee and generated 25 billion KGs of spent coffee grounds (SCGs) every year. Simply 4% of the SCGs are properly recycled. The others mostly end up in the landfills and emit Carbon-Dioxide and Methane which are the two major greenhouse gases. People love coffee but the SCGs bring negative impacts on our mother earth. Ccilu developed the solutions of upcycling the hazardous wastes and turning them into every major component of XpreSole Panto boots.
- Project Duration
- The project started in May 2018 in Taiwan and finished in September 2020 in Taiwan, and planned to go to market in Q2 2021.
- Operation Flow
- People have loved coffee for centuries ago. However, the spent coffee grounds emit greenhouse gases, for example, carbon dioxide and methane, when they are landfilled. Ccilu uses design driven and innovative technologies to upcycle the spent coffee ground and turn them into the most lightweight, machine washable, and sustainably made boots for all occasions while increasing awareness of people and acknowledgment of the circular economy. There are many coffee makers and coffee consumers in the world and able to join our efforts and make it a global and long term movement for the industry and for the mother earth.
- Team Members
- President: Wilson Hsu
Chairman: Steve Hsu
Product Director: Alvin Liu
Marketing Director: Joseph Chang - Image Credits
- Image #No1,2,3,4,5: Photographer / Illustrator / Creator (Joseph Chang/Ccilu international Inc.)
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