5 Sustainable Footwear Brands that You Should Know
Searching for that elusive perfect pair of shoes that’s of great quality, camera-ready, yet sustainable seems like a far-fetched dream… Well not anymore!
Shoes, much like our clothes, rotate through a mind-numbing series of trends and seasons over the years. As consumers, we are somewhat primed by peer pressure, social media, and advertisements, to replace our shoes as soon as the relevance of a previous trend wears off.
Over the past couple of years, fashion and footwear brands have come under fire for the lack of transparency and questionable environmental practices. Thankfully a flurry of ethical brands has sprouted to raise the bar for responsible shoemaking, alongside existing brands that are making amends to their operational practices, thanks to demands from eco-conscious consumers.
Without further ado, we’ve curated a list of brands that produce cruelty-free and sustainable shoes to aid your sole searching. You’re welcome.
Allbirds
Based in San Francisco, Allbirds quickly found its fame amongst Silicon Valley dwellers since its founding in 2016. Their sustainably-made shoes grew in popularity due to its unassuming appearance and comfort, especially in a community that values simplicity, and now it’s everywhere!
Allbirds first garnered attention for its wool “Runners”, made with very fine merino wool from New Zealand, where each strand measures 17.5 microns wide. Now they boast a myriad of other shoe styles using eco-friendly materials, such as sugarcane, tree bark, eucalyptus fibers, and Tencel’s Lyocell. Their SweetFoam™ shoe sole is derived from sugarcane fibres, which they sustainably sourced from Brazil. The brand’s TrinoXO™ which works as a natural deodorizer, is made by harvesting discarded snow crab shells (yes you’ve read that right!).
The company is Forest Stewardship Council® certified, which means they responsibly source these renewable materials, complied with strict policies to protect forests, animals, and the people who depend on them.
In 2020, Allbirds partnered with Clean Agency, an environmental consultancy firm, to calculate and label the carbon footprint emissions of all its footwear, underlining the company’s commitment to transparency and sustainability.
Adidas x Parley
Already one of the largest sportswear producers and a household name, Adidas has been making strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sourcing for more sustainable materials for its sports gear, and so on. The company is upping the ante by partnering up with Parley for the Oceans, an environmental ocean group, to produce high-performance running shoes that are made of recycled ocean plastics. The ensuing collection garnered social media attention and turned out to be a hit amongst fashionistas.
The brilliant collaboration was the result of Parley’s long-term solution to plastic pollution, dubbed the ‘A.I.R.’ strategy: Avoid the use of plastic whenever possible, Intercept plastic pollution before it reaches the ocean, and Redesign the source of the issue: the material. Plastic is regarded as a design flaw by Cyrill Gutsch, founder of Parley. The end of the material’s life cycle was never considered, thus it’s here to stay, eventually finding its way into our food chain.
Thus the initiative by Adidas and Parley is to reinvent plastic to introduce a replacement for virgin polyester, where plastic bottles from the oceans are broken down into pellets, which are then spun into what is called the Ocean Plastic. Adidas has also pledged to use only recycled plastic in its products by 2024, while more than 50% of their current line of goods have involved the use of recycled plastics.
Stella McCartney
It would be absurd not to include Stella McCartney in any list where eco-friendliness is concerned. We’ve included the British designer’s eponymous label in our ‘10 Sustainable Activewear Brands that You Should Know’ article last year (give it a read if you haven’t already!). The brand has been churning out fashionable sneakers out of recycled polyester since 2012, while utilising half of the energy that virgin polyester requires. Their more recent pieces are stitched together using eco-friendly threads, and minimal to no glue at all.
Many high-end fashion brands have gained notoriety for their unethical and inhumane practices, McCartney however stood out amongst the pack due to her unwavering dedication to running a modern and ethical business for nearly two decades.
Stella McCartney is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which is a global alliance of leading fashion brands that is working to reduce the environmental and social impact of the industry. Several strategies and policies have been put in place in McCartney’s operations, from minimising waste and solvent-based chemicals, greenhouse gas outputs, to wastewater treatments and more. Eco-friendly materials are the unique selling point of her creations, utilizing materials such as recycled polyester, regenerated cashmere and organic cotton. In that regard, there’s no doubt that the brand has set some good examples for luxury brands to take notes on.
Veja
Founded in 2005 in France, Veja was the first fully sustainable sneaker brand, aligning with the founder’s mission of creating sneakers using the most ecological materials from ethical suppliers possible.
With an iconic “V” emblazoned on its shoes, Veja’s minimalist aesthetic and accessible price tag appeals to a wide demographic, but that wasn’t all. Consumers are driven by the company’s values on fair trade and organic sourcing and transparency regarding its operations — Veja’s website details its shoe components’ materials and their origin on every product.
Veja sources its rubber straight from the Amazon, where its rubber trees grow in the wild and are tended to by local workers. The company’s fair trade organic cotton is purchased from cotton farming families in Ceara, a state in Northeastern Brazil. Co-operative farmers are paid competitive wages, between 30% to 100% above the standard world market price by Veja.
Aside from the use of organic, responsibly sourced materials, the brand also invests heavily into researching new technologies, as they don’t spend on advertising. B-mesh, a.k.a bottle mesh, is a lightweight, waterproof, yet breathable fabric to be used on the upper part of their sneaker models. The fabric is made by upcycling 100% recycled plastic bottles collected from the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. With all that being said, Veja quickly became one of the main references for ethical shoe-making, having raised the standards for the industry.
Ecoalf
Isn’t it so rare that a business is conceived with Mother Nature’s wellbeing in mind? Well, it was with this concern about the use of our planet’s natural resources, and frustration over the outrageous amount of waste produced by the fashion industry, which led to the birth of Ecoalf in 2004.
The company has great aspirations: aiming to close the loop on raw material production by using innovative technologies to make products entirely from recycled materials, with the same great quality, design, and technical properties as non-recycled products. Recycled plastics are Ecoalf’s primary material, which consists of plastic bottles, trash, and fishing nets collected by local fishermen from the Meditteranean Sea through the brand’s Upcycling the Oceans (UTO) project. To date, they have recycled over 200 million plastic bottles and 60 tonnes of fishing nets! And thanks to the recycled plastics, Ecoalf has saved CO2 emissions by 60%, and reduced water and energy consumption by 20% and 50% respectively.
Aside from footwear, the Spanish label has also created lines of casual clothing, yoga attire, accessories, bags, masks, all made using high proportions or entirely out of recycled materials. Part of its line of shoes are produced using fabrics made by Bluesign System Partner certified manufacturers, so you know that their fabrics are made sustainably by fairly paid workers.
While it’s great news that eco-friendly and ethical footwear has made it into the spotlight these days, the most sustainable option might be to take good care of what we already own, and abstain from buying new shoes until they just couldn’t handle another mile. Before you buy anything new, put on your investigative hat and probe into the brand’s manufacturing procedures and ethics, ask questions if you’re unsure. If the label is being questionable and shady about the transparencies of their operations, maybe just walk away and continue your quest to look for another sustainable brand, or just refer to this blog post!
We would also like to note here that brands that truly tick all the boxes of vegan, eco-friendly, and ethical requirements are very few and far between; considering every piece of footwear and garment made will generate some impact, no matter how ethically made it is. As the sustainable lifestyle is gaining momentum, we believe that the industry will take heed of it, and will develop and improve as more consumers demand for more transparency and eco-conscious operations.
We’d be glad to know if our short guide has helped you out in your quest to find the sustainable shoes of your dreams. If you’re looking to transition to a more sustainable supply chain, let us know and we’d be more than happy to help you out!
