Saola

About Saola

Saola is a sustainable footwear brand based in San Diego, California and Annecy, France, founded in 2015 by Guillaume Linossier. After years working in the outdoor industry, Linossier left his job driven by what the brand describes as “an adventurous life and an acute awareness of the environmental crisis,” and set out to build a sneaker company centred on eco-design and wildlife conservation rather than seasonal trends. The brand takes its name from the saola, a critically endangered antelope-like mammal native to the Annamite mountains of Vietnam and Laos, sometimes called the “Asian unicorn” because it is so rarely seen — a deliberate reminder, built into the company’s name, of what is at stake when biodiversity is lost.

Eco-Design Philosophy

Saola’s mission is to make sneakers that are “super light and comfy” while using “as much recycled and natural material as possible.” Each shoe is built to weigh well under 14 ounces per pair, with the lighter build itself reducing the volume of raw material needed per shoe. Recycled plastics, bio-sourced foams, and natural fibres are worked into the brand’s Cali Knit, Cannon, Tsavo, EZO, and Bali collections, replacing the virgin synthetic materials that dominate most mainstream sneaker production. Manufacturing is based in Vietnam, a choice the brand frames as a way to minimise its overall carbon footprint by keeping material sourcing and assembly within one efficient regional supply chain rather than shipping components across multiple continents.

This focus on lightweight, recycled, and bio-based construction places Saola firmly within the growing field of eco-products and sustainably made fashion & accessories — categories the Prakati Green Directory exists to surface for shoppers who want their everyday purchases to carry less environmental weight, quite literally in this case.

Conservation Partnerships

Sustainability at Saola extends past the materials in each shoe. The company is a partner of 1% for the Planet, donating a share of profits to vetted environmental organisations working on forest protection and endangered species conservation. The brand maintains dedicated pages on its site addressing both its manufacturing impact and its wildlife conservation commitments, treating the two as connected rather than separate marketing claims — the same ethos that inspired naming the company after a nearly-extinct animal in the first place. Rather than treating conservation as an add-on cause, Saola positions it as the entire reason the brand exists: a sneaker company built by someone who wanted his work to fund the protection of the wild places he valued.

Products

Saola’s current range spans slip-ons, waterproof styles, and a wool collection, alongside its core knit and canvas sneaker lines for men and women. Best-selling styles include the Tsavo, EZO, and Cali Knit collections, along with a small range of bags and accessories made using the same recycled and bio-sourced material philosophy. Prices generally run from the low $80s to the high $130s, positioning Saola as an accessible, everyday alternative to fast-fashion sneaker brands rather than a luxury eco-label. The brand continues to expand its range each season while keeping its founding constraint in place — every new style must use as much recycled or natural material as the design will allow, rather than treating sustainability as a single hero product within an otherwise conventional catalogue.

Find Saola

Saola ships internationally from its San Diego and Annecy bases and maintains an active presence on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn, where the brand regularly shares updates on its conservation partnerships alongside new product drops. For shoppers comparing sustainable footwear options, Saola is one of many genuinely mission-driven brands featured across the Prakati Green Directory, Prakati’s free listing platform for businesses building real, measurable environmental impact into their products rather than relying on vague marketing language alone.