Noor Hachem: Innovating Through Sneaker Upcycling

Upcycling Sneakers with Noor Hachem: A Family Passion Project

In this episode, we chat with Noor Hachem, a 21-year-old university student with a strong passion for sneakers. Noor discusses her involvement in Sneaker Impact, a family business focusing on upcycling sneakers. She shares her personal connection to the project, her family's deep roots in the industry, and how they are partnering with universities to give fashion students an opportunity to upcycle sneakers. Noor also emphasizes the importance of sustainability and supporting micro-businesses. Follow Sneaker Impact on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to stay updated on their journey and innovative projects.

To learn more and get involved, follow Sneaker Impact on Instagram and YouTube.

https://www.instagram.com/sneaker.impact

https://youtube.com/@sneakerimpact

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Greetings
• 0:00 Getting to know Noor Hachem
• 0:21 Sneaker Impact Project Overview
• 0:49 Personal Connection to Sneakers
• 1:16 Family Involvement in Sneaker Impact
• 1:58 Excitement for the Project
• 2:54 Social Media and Future Plans
• 3:26 Sustainability and Upcycling
• 4:06 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Transcript

1_Noor: 0:05

​I'm Nora Hachem. And how are you doing today, Bryan? Great.

2_Bryan: 0:08

Thanks for coming in, Noor. Yeah. Tell us a little about yourself.

1_Noor: 0:11

So, I'm 21. I'm currently a student at Nova. I'm majoring in nutrition and minoring in pre-health and psychology. Um, I love to bake. I love to work out. Um, that's a little bit about myself.

2_Bryan: 0:23

Mm-hmm. That's awesome. Right. So what, tell us about this project with Sneaker Impact.

1_Noor: 0:27

So, we're working on a really cool project. It's for Upcycling sneakers. We're gonna be giving sneakers to fashion students and they're gonna have an opportunity to upcycle them, which is a pretty cool thing for Sneaker Impact, considering that there is a space for everybody in Sneaker Impact. I'm not gonna give you guys too much information, but we are collaborating with a couple of universities on this project, so I'm gonna get a little bit into that. But, um, the reason why I really wanted to do this is because I grew up with this in my family, you know? Mm-hmm. Every single weekend my dad would bring me to the warehouse and I would just spend the entire day here. Like shoes was my life. I had 10 shoes in my closet every single day. Uh, Baba, did you bring me any new sneakers? You know? Mm-hmm. So sneakers are very important to me.

2_Bryan: 1:19

Your dad and your uncle are the founders of this company.

1_Noor: 1:21

Right. And

2_Bryan: 1:22

so you've grown up in this life.

1_Noor: 1:24

Right. And I, I'm super lucky to have this opportunity and I didn't really think I'd have a place for me, but I was wrong obviously.'cause there's a spot for everybody here. Um, that's so true. I also did a little bit of Sneaker collection in high school. So like I do have experience in this field, but. This is such a niche field, taking sneakers into fashion and upcycling them so we could sell them to micro businesses across the world. Mm-hmm. So we're gonna be focusing on sustainability and supporting micro businesses, which is really important. And I just really wanted. Something to help out with, you know?

2_Bryan: 2:00

Amazing. Yeah. So it's a passion project. This is a, your personal project and fingerprint on Sneaker Impact.

1_Noor: 2:05

It really has nothing to do with my major. This is really, this is really just like a summer project that I hope to create into a part of my life, you know? Mm-hmm. Because, um, ever since I was a kid, my dad would always tell us like, your grandpa brought this business to America, and almost all of my family members does this and for their full time. Yeah, exactly. Your

2_Bryan: 2:25

brother works here. Moe, Hachem Ali, your dad, and we, your cousins.

1_Noor: 2:28

And we all found a different niche in this company. Mm-hmm. And I'm really happy that I found something that I really enjoy.'cause I called my uncle and I was like, Hey, like I'm ready to get involved. And he's like, I know exactly what I want you to do. Wow. And yeah, I'm really excited to meet these fashion students. A little scared'cause you know, they're gonna have the best style ever, but I'm really excited. Uh, other than that, that's i'm really excited for this. So everyone just needs to stay tuned on what we're gonna do.

2_Bryan: 2:57

Yeah, where are you gonna be sharing news? And Follow Sneaker

1_Noor: 3:00

Impact updates on Instagram. TikTok, I don't know if we have a Snapchat. We have, we're on YouTube for sure. Yeah. YouTube 100%. Yeah.

2_Bryan: 3:07

And these, these are gonna be videos we're gonna help make, right? For Right? Yep. Some of it's gonna be great videos for our vendors and our business entrepreneurs to use to upcycle a shoe. But then some will also be different types of videos, education how to fashion and also showing more than just running stuff we wanna show, women and how fashion is getting involved. So I think that's great. Yes.

1_Noor: 3:29

Every Sneaker deserves a second life and mm-hmm. We really don't have so much time for our mother Earth like we can't wear one pair of sneakers and then throw them out. So it's really cool. My uncle's doing, he's recycling rubber and shredding them and so that is one side of what you could do with a Sneaker. And on the other side, which is really cool, is this project. Mm-hmm. We can see if. Can we make sneakers reusable and pretty Again, you know, Balenciaga did it. New Balance, did it. Why can't we do it? You know, every Sneaker deserves a second chance. Yeah, of

2_Bryan: 4:01

course. Yeah. Sneaker Impact, a hundred percent can do that. And it's an amazing vision by Noor Hachem whose family is behind Sneaker Impact. This is so cool to see the whole family getting involved so we'll have you back in the future. Noor, is there anything else any other thoughts you wanna share with the community?

1_Noor: 4:16

Um, family is really important and I think this business is. Like a reminder that we all are there for each other and at the end of the day, we're the only people that are gonna be there for each other. So I think like us kind of combining together and putting our interests together to continue this vision is very, um, admirable. A

2_Bryan: 4:38

hundred percent. It's a team effort and Right, yeah. Like you said, it's a family you do life with. So it's so cool that your family is all working together on this, and yeah. Thank you for coming on today, Noor, this is, thank you. Incredible to meet you. We'll catch up guys with Nora in the future and um, thank you for very soon. Upcycling. Bye. Have a great summer. Bye.