‘I believe sneakers can be a tool for social transformation’

People

December 2024

At the forefront of a sports footwear brand that stands out for its strong social and environmental responsibility component, João Esteves believes that sneakers, in addition to being a business, can be a tool for transformation. The inspiring story of an innovative project that Energiser had the privilege of learning about and now shares.

Soraia is 24 years old and has many dreams to fulfil. Perhaps she will create a sportswear brand or become a commercial model. Only time will tell.

She grew up in a social housing neighbourhood in Alfragide and attended the Johnson Academy – a local association dedicated to supporting vulnerable children, young people and families – when, in 2021, this institution gave her the opportunity to broaden her horizons.

Driven by curiosity and an interest in trying new things, she did not hesitate to enrol in iMAGINE, a training programme for young people at risk of exclusion.

Soraia, 24

I managed to develop various skills, particularly in the areas of entrepreneurship, communication and creativity, and we established a very good relationship that continues to this day

Says a smiling Soraia, confident in a better tomorrow. It is young people like Soraia, who were part of the first group of graduates, the Originals, from the Zambujal neighbourhood, that the iMAGINE programme seeks to help design a brighter future.

The journey of this young woman, who currently works for a private security company, intersects with the inspiring story of João Esteves, the entrepreneur behind DiVERGE, a brand of customisable trainers that was created in 2019 to generate social and environmental impact.

From the outset, the logic was, on the one hand, to value the individual, allowing each person to create trainers that represent their tastes and ‘what is in their soul’ and, on the other hand, to contribute to combating overproduction in the fashion industry by selling their creations only to order.

João Esteves, DiVERGE

We want to be a brand where everyone can be themselves and diverge from what happens in the fashion world, with its giant productions that generate waste and brutal consumption of resources. By producing only to order, we are able to minimise our footprint

explains the entrepreneur, who also wanted to put his platform at the service of the community after the pandemic accelerated the spirit of mutual aid, especially among the most disadvantaged. In this case, a demographic that faces very real risks: young people between the ages of 16 and 24, which is why iMAGINE was created.

The training programme for employability and entrepreneurship has already been held in several locations across the country, including Sines, where the session we are reporting on here took place with a group of young people at risk of exclusion but who were very interested and participatory. The goal now is to reach around 600 young people over the next two and a half years.

How does iMAGINE work?

João Esteves has already begun travelling around the country to spread the word about iMAGINE and what he believes in, based on his own experience: ‘it is always possible to acquire new skills and change your life’. The training sessions began in Greater Lisbon, where he lives, and moved on to Felgueiras and Torres Vedras. Energiser met him at the Sines Arts Centre, where, at the time of this report, he was conducting a training session with a group of at-risk young people from the region. We took the opportunity to attend and find out a little more about the programme in which young people, like Soraia, are invited to participate.

The aim is to give them the tools to personalise their own trainers with the ultimate goal of launching the ones they have designed on the platform, under their own name. A unique collection that each one can be proud of and that tells their story. They receive a commission on the sales achieved. In return, they have to go through a training process for employability and entrepreneurship to learn how this world works, how they should behave and how they can launch themselves into ambitious professional projects and be successful. ‘This is what is relevant,’ explains João Esteves, a graduate in Management who, before becoming an entrepreneur at the age of 43, had a successful career in Communication and Marketing and with the brands of large companies in various sectors of activity in Portugal and abroad.

Inspiration

The idea of creating a sports brand like DiVERGE was inspired by two long-standing passions, basketball and trainers, reveals the CEO of DiVERGE.

"It's my favourite sport, which I've played all my life, and I've always loved trainers. When I worked at Sport Zone, I began to realise that the way we dressed had changed and that we were gradually able to make our clothing more comfortable, even in formal situations. The inspiration became more evident in footwear, to the point of invading our wardrobes, and that's when I saw customisable trainers as a business opportunity, as there weren't many brands investing in this niche."

In addition to running its own company, iMAGINE is hitting its stride with the aim of reaching 600 young graduates over the next two and a half years, after having its application approved by Portugal Inovação Social, a public initiative that supports projects with social impact, guaranteeing funding to develop a further 57 cycles of the programme throughout the country. The Galp Foundation is a patron of this programme, which has a local impact in Sines and Santiago and aims to reduce inequalities through education. It is included in the Galp Foundation's Sines and Santiago Energy Communities programme.

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