Santa, like god, helps those who help themselves. Which is obviously why he revealed to me the Melissa store here in Hong Kong where I am currently traveling (you can read my new travel blog about it if you want). And oh look, they were having a massive sale of 30-50% off and these “Feeling” wedges were on it. Yes, I am totally feeling these. They only had one size left, 40 Euro (7 UK) which is basically one or two sizes too big for me, depending on the particular shoe, but in this case these seemed to fit. Maybe it’s the serious wedge action on them. They’re a tiny bit looser than they ought to be, but perfectly comfortable for standing on and even walking in. Not that it matters. I mean, look at them! There was no way they were going to stay in the big, cold, horrible shop for that price.
So ladies, if you want to get the drool-worthy look I’m going to be rocking from now on (fuck it, I’m gonna be buried in these!), you can get these from NonNon in the UK.

There comes a time in every shoe addict’s life, where one has to clear out some old shoes one never wears anymore, to make room for all the hot new shoes of the future. But seeing as many of these shoes are actually pretty wearable still and may make someone else very happy, this particular shoe addict, i.e. me, is going to offer them up to you, dear shoe-loving readers first.

So over the next bunch of days, I’m going to be selling shoes on here. Email me on shoes@veganshoeaddict.com or get in touch via the contact page if you’re interested. I’ll take payment by Paypal and post just about anywhere in the world (I’ll charge you exact postage, which I’ll need to find out first). I’m a size 5-6 UK so there’s a range of shoes from about 4 -6 UK (7-8 US I think? 37-39 Euro).

First up, here’s a pair of vaguely kabuki-ish heels by Rocket Dog. The soles are actual wood, but the sort of cheap wood like the stuff cheap Ikea shelves are made of. They’ve got raffia uppers with some sort of red PU padding so they won’t scratch. They are marked as size 7M, which I believe is a US size. They fit like a size 5 (38 UK) but are not actually that wide. They fit my feet pretty spot on and they’re quite narrow.

Heels are very stable, as they are quite wide. They’ve been worn a bunch of times so are not pristine, but I’d rate them as reasonable. They’re definitely pretty unusual.

Any offers £8 and above welcome

I am so happy I got these in a sale!

I’ve been looking for something vegan and boot-like for ages and this city has nothing! All the gorgeous boots I’ve seen have been leather leather leather and the only vegan stuff has been crap. These aren’t quite the glorious designer knee-highs I’ve been craving, but they’ll go with all the stuff I’ve got with me and they’re ace. They’re very comfortable and fit true to size. I’ve tried them on with a thick sock, too.

They are by Rocket Dog and they have a label sewn inside that tells you they’re 100% synthetic. I am mentioning this because some places that sell these claim they are leather, but they are not. They are definitely synthetic. They’re called Yonder. They also come in brown.

You can get them from lots of places but here they are on Amazon.

I also got a pair of these. I thought from the pics that they would be rubbery, like rain boots, but they are actually shiny plastic. I looked at a few other colours and they were all made out the same material. They are very comfortable, but run 1-2 sizes small. I ended up buying 2 sizes up.

Well, before we go any further, I have to say – I don’t have a link for you to get a hold of these particular shoes. I found these beauties on a beautiful lady at a designer clothes sale in Tel Aviv and just had to grab them for my blog. Apart from the super hot pink colour, they have pointy toes, are perforated and are laced with funky laces (I assume those were added by the model herself).

These are apparently actual vintage 80s shoes by Gali, an iconic Israeli brand (and by iconic, I mean iconically so bad it’s almost cool). She picked them up at the Jaffa flea market, having not been able to resist (and who could resist these???)

So the lessons that can be learned from today’s post are:

check out your local flea market (or ebay) for vintage / retro plastic shoes. Apparently the 80s had some pretty wicked things.

Also… if you are a bit handy with the craft stuff, you may be able to get some flat plastic or rubber boots and cut them up to look this cool (though the cool perforation effect may take some time to do and drive you crazy).

You could also check out these cool vegan plastic shoes I wrote about the other day.

OK, these aren’t actually mine. They belong to my friend, who was kind enough to model them for me.

These are by Italian label, Fessura (beware of somewhat shitty website that plays loud music at you and takes forever to actually show you any shoes) who seem to have a good range of vegan shoes among their flock.

These shoes are, as often is the case in this blog, of the “love em or hate em” ilk. As my friend says, “people either love them or think they look like a plaster cast”.

They are incredibly comfortable, hard wearing and can be worn in several different styles, as the elastic strapping is very versatile and can be changed around or removed altogether (although that just makes the shoes look like simple black pumps so isn’t nearly as exciting).

They make fine casual every day shoes, as they are comfortable and can be worn in any situation where you’d normally wear trainers (only obviously they are somewhat more unusual and exciting).

So where do you get them from? Well, they are called Fessura Shell Band, so happy hunting. My own googling efforts have only brought up some Japanese sites selling them (at least I think that’s what they’re doing) and an Italian website that used to sell them.

Not much help, I know, but at least now you know about the brand itself, which is good, as they do make quite a few other vegan shoes…

Wingtip brogues and oxfords have been gracing the feet of many retro fashionista for quite some time now. And with the retro style being so in nowadays, I figured I’d write a bit about the classic wingtip brogue shoe.

This is obviously quite a masculine style and these Airseal brogues from Vegetarian Shoes come in some men’s sizes too (and apparently run large for almost one size so could actually fit some reasonably big blokes). They clearly resemble Doc Martens and Grinders but are 100% vegan and come from a UK-based, ethical company. Vegetarian shoes make shoes that last and in my experience they are generally very comfortable too. Not cheap, but at least you get your money’s worth.

These are available from Vegetarian Shoes. They also come in an all-black version.
In the USA, you may be able to get them from Moo shoes, though I think they only carry the black version.

These women’s brogues are by Dirty Laundry and come in a range of colours and vegan materials, including brown and all-black in patent, waxed (matte) and even fabric.
They don’t look quite as classic or as sturdy as the Veggie shoes ones, but are slightly more girlie.

They are available from Dirty Laundry.

This somewhat battered pair of Melissa Shoes Joy Brogues is my own personal pair (seen here with matching cat) that I’ve been wearing all the time for well over a year. As you can see, they’re not quite as glorious as when they were new (here’s what they look like new), but are still quite striking, very feminine and people keep thinking they are proper tap or swing shoes and rarely notice they are made of plastic. I get compliments every time I wear these. They’re super comfortable instantly, but run a size small like all Melissa shoes I’ve tried.

The only place you can still get these in black and white is eBay on occasion (and maybe some random shops in far away places still have them), but the Melissa brogues come in a load of colours and combinations and new colours come out every season, so you can probably find some variation on this theme somewhere. Current season hits include some “flock” (velvet-like plastic material) numbers as well as an all-black Swarovski crystal-decked specimen for the small price of about 200 quid. Past collections included all-pink, gold and metallic purple.

Vegan swing / lindy hop dance shoes
Make: Bleyer
Style: Ruby Slippers

The why the where the how::

I bought these vegan swing dance shoes years ago while I was taking lindy hop classes. Most swing shoes have suede soles to make spinning and turning easier. Bleyer have their own special sole that’s made out of synthetic materials. Apart from making their shoes one step closer to being vegan, this also means these shoes can be worn off the dancefloor too, without being easily worn out like the suede ones. Most of the Bleyer swing shoes are still made with leather uppers, but the red and white Ruby Slippers are 100% synthetic, as their so-called patent leather material is actually a synthetic substitute and these shoes are 100% patent. They have another one or two styles that come as 100% vegan as standard and, as far as I know, are the only one who make professional vegan swing and lindy hop shoes.

I spent ages looking online before finding these and they were brilliant but they do run a size small, which is why I no longer have the ones in the picture.

Where can I get them?

You can buy them here in the UK, here in Canada and here in the US and anywhere else. The last link is the main international vegan Bleyer suppliers and they have loads of different styles and materials you can choose from. They are based in Australia but ship all over the world.