From Minnehaha to Steve Madden: Madeleine Danzberger '19 Works to Build a More Sustainable Fashion Industry

As young adults step into their professional lives, it’s easy to see the coming years as a series of résumé lines to conquer. Slowing down and allowing success to grow out of one’s own formation isn’t always easy.

This profile is part of a series highlighting young Minnehaha alumni who are pursuing their work with thoughtfulness and purpose. Rather than chasing short-term wins to build their LinkedIn profiles, these alumni are asking deeper questions about who they are becoming—and making choices that reflect the passions, personality, and gifts God has placed within them.

Madeleine Danzberger '19

Steve Madden
Sustainability and Social Impact Specialist

Spot on the Map

I'm in New York City at Steve Madden. I manage projects across sustainability and social impact ranging from circularity programs and ESG reporting to community partnerships that help build a more responsible fashion ecosystem.

Why Shoes?

People think shoes are similar to clothing, but they're closer to cars­—a single shoe can have 30–40 individual components across multiple material types. It takes roughly 8,000 liters of water to manufacture one pair of leather shoes, releasing 30 pounds of CO². That complexity makes managing their impact a challenge, and it's one I love.

Unexpected Path

Growing up spending time in the Boundary Waters sparked my passion for environmental stewardship, which for a long time seemed incompatible with the love I have for fashion and design. In 2022, I interned with Sephora and helped launch their Beauty (Re)Purposed take-back program, which opened my eyes to the path I'm on today.

What it Looks Like

The biggest part of our job isn't making new things­­—it's improving how those things are made. We explore sustainable methods designers can employ to reduce their impact on the environment while still creating a beautiful, functional shoe. We also work to ensure that products are safe for both the people wearing our shoes and the communities that manufacture them.

One Small Change

Footwear samples are often single shoes, and since it's hard to find a use for just one, designers often toss them in the trash. I brought this up to my manager and we created a program to keep these samples out of the landfill which inspired employees to suggest other areas of potential change.

Progress Over Perfection

I find it helpful to focus less on the outcome and more on our overall direction. I think about it like the slope of a graph: change might progress slowly, but what is the trajectory? When you work in an organization as big as Steve Madden there can be a lot of different variables to manage but each step forward, each liter of water saved or safer chemical used, is moving toward the ultimate goal of a better future. That is where you find hope for change.