You want to make the world a better place to live? Start with walking on sustainable shoes. Below I give you my favorite sustainable shoes. These are stylish, yet responsible shoes. A fair wage, but still very affordable shoes. Sustainable shoes is not a change anymore, just a sustainable choice that fits today’s world.
Read below which brand produced shoes made of apples.
A lot has been written about sustainable clothing, but sustainable shoes have been left out a bit. Beautiful things are happening though. So it’s time to discover the greatness of sustainable shoes.
May the next shoes you buy be sustainable shoes.
SAYE, sustainable sneakers with 80s style
The young entrepreneurs behind SAYE aim to convince you to switch to sustainable shoes. SAYE makes this switch as easy as possible. And they do it well. In de summer of 2018 they introduced their new brand, going viral with hastags #Gamechanger and #Playgreen.
They follow three important principles: the shoe needs to
- Be affordable;
- Have a great design;
- Be durable.
Their first model is absolutely fantastic, named Modelo ’89. This is a unisex vintage 80s shoe that is available in six colors. I love it! The shoe is made of organic leather, cork and rubber. The shoes are not made in Asia.
Oh, and they’ll plant two trees with the purchase of you shoes!
Veja, sustainable French sneakers
Veja is a trendy French shoe brand that designs sustainable shoes since 2005. These shoes are made with great respect for nature and other human beings. A.k.a. very responsible shoes.
Read also: Weather and clothes: What should I wear with different weather forecasts?
The founders of Veja share their viewpoint on sustainable shoes. Working in the shoe industry, they’ve personally discovered the bad working conditions in shoe factories in China, where most shoes in the world are produced. Even when working conditions in the factor seemed fine, the living conditions were terrible. The founders say in their podcasts that they’ve seen how 32 Chinese employees lived together in a room of only 25m2.
Veja wants to do things differently, spending money the right way. They prefer spending money on the shoemakers and nice, quality and sustainable materials, instead of on marketing.
Support this goal and wear nice sustainable shoes at the same time.
Komrads, shoes made of apples
Mark and Greet are the founders of the Belgian sustainable shoes brand Komrads. They had a dream: to make shoes that have as little impact on the environment as possible. No animal products, no rainforest rubber. They’ve succeeded. The most recent Komrads shoe collection is made of recycled rubber, truck tires and leather made from apples. Apple leather is a plant-based leather made 50% of apple waste. Komrads shoes are available in the colors black, blue, red and green.
Order your sneakers made of apple leather from Komrads in their crowdfunding campaign.
Adidas x Parley: sustainable Adidas shoes
Adidas has been making sustainable shoes for a long period of time, using recycled plastic from the oceans to produce new shoes.
In a new sustainable clothing line, Adidas works with Parley, which is an organization that fights the plastic soup in our oceans. The Adidas x Parley collaboration doesn’t only make shoes, but also other sustainable clothing under the Adidas brand.
As you would expect from Adidas, these shoes look great and futuristic.
Adidas also focuses on other areas concerning sustainability. They are for example actively against child labor and in favor of a fair wage for employees.
The Adidas x Parley shoes are a great result. Definitely take a look at the Adidas x Parley shoes.
Po-Zu sustainable shoes
Po-Zu seems to do everything right. They use materials from responsible, natural resources or that are harvested responsibly. So no bleach, toxic dyes or pesticides are used in the production process. Employees are well paid, but additionally Po-Zu shoes give part of the profit to charity. As if this isn’t good enough, Po-Zu has made complete recyclable shoes in collaboration with Timberland.
So definitely take a look at these innovative sustainable shoes.
Reebok, sustainable shoes made of plant-based materials
Guess the materials of the world’s first fully plant based running shoes. Algae, castor beans, natural rubber and eucalyptus. Ok, that is pretty ground breaking.
This is an actual innovative plant-based shoe. With excellent quality for great performance, making it an actual running shoe. Even better that a big shoe brand like Reebok is putting a great effort into the research and development of plant-based materials for shoes, that actually support a great performance.
Take a look at the plant-based running shoes from Reebok.
Why aren’t we all wearing plant-based shoes?
Flamingo’s Life, vegan sneakers
Another great vegan shoe brand, based in Spain. Flamingo’s Life shoes are made of corn and bamboo materials, among other vegan materials. These shoes look absolutely fantastic and are also sustainable.
Buying Flamingo’s Life shoes means you’re not only buying sustainable shoes, but you’re actually supporting ecological activism, preserving our planet and contributing to Waste Free Oceans.
Flamingo’s Life doesn’t use animal products or leather. These are vegan shoes, made of recycled plastic, organic cotton, ecofriendly rubber, bamboo and corn.
Shop Flamingo’s Life shoes here.
TOMS, sustainable shoes
TOMS has designed and produced sustainable shoes for a long time. They are fully sustainable, using sustainable materials. TOMS is also socially responsible and reduces pollution as much as possible.
TOMS has a motto: One for One. This means that for every pair of TOMS shoes you buy, a child in need will receive a free pair of new shoes as well.
Also good to know: TOMS has a very wide choice in different kind and styles of shoes. For example sustainable waterproof walking shoes, sneaker, casual women shoes and slippers. And they honestly all look great, because sustainability is about a great design made sustainably. And TOMS proves this is possible!
Shop all your TOMS shoes here.
So remember: make the world a bit better by buying sustainable shoes the next time you need new shoes. Sustainable shoes can be affordable and very well designed. The only difference is that you know sustainable shoes are produced fairly, with fair wages, sustainable materials and as low environmental pollution as possible.
Not just shoes are becoming greener, also fields like business electronics. Dutch Aliter Networks prevents tonnes of waste by refurbishing network hardware.