This Brazilian company made the original “jelly shoe” and have been making weird and wonderful plastic fantastic creations for over 25 years, working with some amazing designers including Vivienne Westwood, the Campana brothers, Judy Blame and more.
While the designs are award-winningly styletastic, these are definitely accessible shoes. They are produced in factories and it appaently takes about a minute to produce a standard pair of their shoes.
Melissa shoes are all made out of special plastic that is easy to break down and recycle (assuming you have the facilities in your area, of course).
The company recycles almost all of its waste in house in its factories and supposedly maintains highly ethical employment standards. Their flagship store in Sao Paolo, Brazil supports struggling local artists and what’s more, every time you buy a pair of Melissa shoes, an angel gets his wings.
OK, that last bit about the angel may not be true, but their shoes do come smelling of bubble gum. The scent goes away after a few months, but it is a nice touch while it lasts.
Melissa are not your average vegan shoe company. they are an ultra-stylish and sexy shoe company that happens to make vegan shoes.
The jelly look is more of a fashion statement that anything else. It comes in shiny “wet look” rubber jelly or “flock” which is velvety and doesn’t look like rubber/plastic at all.
I own a few pairs of their shoes and they are comfortable and absolutely gorgeous. They seem to last for a while, which is good, as they are not cheap, although I have found that their two-tone shoes tend to mark easily and quickly. Their single colour shoes seem to maintain their attractive look for longer. They generally run a size small.
Visit the official USA site
Visit Melissa’s Australian site
Check out Melissa shoes on Amazon