Vegan Shoes? Happy, Eco-Friendly Feet (video)

The first in our series on earth-friendly and vegan shoes. Seriously – we wouldn’t be green divas if we didn’t love shoes! We recently hooked up with PlanetShoes.com and to our amazement, there is a plentiful variety of not only eco-friendly shoes made from recycled materials, but vegan shoes? Ok, I’m not a vegan virgin, but really vegan shoes? Does this mean I can eat them? Of course, I jest, but one usually thinks of the term vegan in relationship to food. But, there are folks who are THRILLED to be able to wear shoes that don’t look like bricks or little burlap sandals on their feet – shoes that are congruent with their values as vegans. I interpret that to mean that there are no animal products used in the production of the shoe – cruelty-free shoes.

I recently got an AWESOME pair of new rain shoes (much needed this past week here in the northeast!) from PlanetShoes.com – Dansko vegan rain shoes! Honestly, I initially picked them because of the killer adorable patterns and THEN realized they were vegan shoes – bonus!

Here’s our most recent vlog on some of our new favorite eco-friendly & vegan shoes:

Being vegan doesn’t mean hairy legs and air-jesus sandals anymore, but it has revived a couple of brands that have been in the game for 30 + years. Some of you who are over 40, probably remember Earth Shoes. I remember thinking they wear very groovy and we all had to have a pair back in middle school. But they weren’t exactly attractive back then, a little like GD Lisa put it in our video – “like wearing a couple of loaves of bread on your feet.” But, I have a pair of their Earth Glide Vegan sneakers/walking shoes and not only are they cute, they are beyond comfortable! And yes, unlike sketchers, they had an immediate effect on my butt muscles – felt the burn baby!

Aside from feeling good about the cruelty-free aspect of wearing vegan shoes, most of the companies that make and sell vegan shoes are also all about being earth-friendly and considering the environmental impact of shoes and accessories. Dansko, for instance has very clear and deliberate social and environmental intentions that are spelled out on their Our Footprint page (cute play on words, right?).

PlanetShoes has a whole “shop” dedicated to vegan shoes, meaning shoes that contain no animal materials. This means that they use natural, sustainable, often man-made synthetics such as hemp, canvas, and plastic in favor of leather, fur, wool, or down. The site features 16 different brands of women’s, men’s, and kids’ vegan shoes, one being Dansko among others such as Patagonia, Merrell, Reef, and Dr. Martens. Hey, my favorite shoes in the 80s were doc Martens – have to check out these updated vegan version!

Here are a couple of other online resources I’ve found for the vegan and eco-fashionista (and vegan and eco-friendly dudes as well)

AlternativeOutfitters.com– a vegan shopping boutique based in LA. They also carry some of my favorite makeup – BWC (Beauty Without Cruelty) along with some other thoughtful vegan brands.

MooShoes.com – a great online resource for vegan shoes and accessories (bags, belts, wallets, etc.), but also a great store to shop if you are in NY.

Stay tuned for more awesome vegan and earth-friendly shoe talk with our Green Divas & Their Shoes series.