Almost 600 shoes are beginning a journey to Parliament today.

The shoes represent people who committed suicide during 2016.

The campaign group Yes We Care said it's sending 579 shoes, including 17 gumboots representing farmers or farm workers.

Seventy percent of the shoes are men's, while eight are small ones representing children aged between 10 and 14.

Jane Stevens of the campaign group lost her 21-year-old son two years ago.

She said, "it's incredibly powerful and pretty confronting. It represents all those people that we've lost and all those families that have had their lives turned upside down."

The shoes are being displayed at events in Whangarei, Invercargill and Auckland before being sent on to Wellington.