Cuteness! These vegan brogues are brand new from Vegetarian Shoes. You can apparently pre-order them now.
They have an updated brogue look – the heel is definitely modern – so would go with anything old and new. personally, I prefer black or black and white, but it’s good to have options. Especially considering the fact that options are often sadly lacking in the non-leather shoe department.
Obviously, being from veggie shoes, you know they are 100% vegans (including glue), ethical and well-made.
There seems to be an explosion in vegan brogue styles recently and I, for one, am very pleased!
You can get these from Vegetarian Shoes.
I’ve written about the Babycham Rockabilly Flash shoes before, but now Babycham have come up with a new design – the Rockabilly Flash Plaid! They’re totally neat, understated yet really quite funky. I love the plaid and denim combination, plus they also have a star-shaped upper eyelet, which is a pretty neat touch.
Once more, Babycham have managed to create shoes that are very “now” but are also pretty retro at the same time.
They look like comfortable shoes you could wear when you want to look funky and somewhat different but don’t want to go for a heel. The red, white and blue combination (especially with the hinted star) has a sort of all-American feel, too. Almost country & Western in a way, but without being too overtly American.
All in all, these are pretty damn funky.
You can get these from Schuh.
Here’s a nice pair of Crocs from the Cloggs sale. As you can see, they are somewhat more refined than their usual clog-like variety. They’re still made out of the same squidy, comfy material, but you could actually blend these with an every day outfit without your Crocs being blatantly out of place. I like the little bit of bling they’ve added to the strap, too.
Let’s face it, these aren’t the most stylish shoes, but they are the most stylish Crocs I’ve seen so far. I think most people wouldn’t even know they were Crocs if it weren’t for the blatant logo on the front (yeah, what’s with that?).
I’d say, if you find Crocs very comfortable and would want to wear them with everything but are not so keen on actually having the Croc-wearing unisex look, then go for these. They look 10 times better than the usual ones, you could wear them with anything and they’re actually pretty cheap.
They come in a range of colours (I counted 4 on the site – black, red, gold and brown).The black is the one most likely to pass as a normal shoe, though I do quite like the red.
You can now get 5% off the price of these (or any other shoes on there) if you buy these off the Cloggs site and use the voucher code: JAN36T before January 26.
OK, so I know clogs aren’t exactly cool in the classic sense and that these look like Crocs (which, while comfortable, are far from cool), but I do love the Birkis. They’re not squidgy like the Crocs, but are made of tough, hard plastic, making them feel more like an actual shoe, for one.
They are instantly comfortable and you can wear them just about anywhere be it sunny, rainy, muddy (within reason) or cold (within reason). In places where winter is short and temperature differences small, you can practically wear them all year round. In other places, you can wear them for 3 out of the 4 seasons and that is actually pretty cool.
I love these because they are sturdy and long-lasting and you can slip in and out of them in seconds. I’ve worn them to festivals, on some mild hikes and when going shopping. I’ve even (don’t tell anyone) worn them when going out drinking and socialising quite a few times, because they are so incredibly comfortable and my black pair is very unassuming.
The plastic part is practically indestructible (which is possibly why they are worn so often by chefs?) but the insole will slowly die after about 5 or so years. The good news is that you can then get a new insole from just about any shoe shop or even a chemist and then your shoes are all new again.
I am not usually a fan of the Birkenstock look, but the Birkis are a different matter. I think they are pretty handy shoes that look kinda quirky and are comfortable and versatile (again, within reason). Someone told me once that they look a bit like cartoon feet, which I very much agreed with. They come in a whole load of colours, including metallic colours, though I personally prefer the darker shades (the metallic blue is pretty wicked though).
I found these on the UK Amazon.
There is often a shortage of shoes that are comfortable yet stylish and these chunky mary janes from Rocket Dog seem to provide a fine answer to this problem. The cushioned sole makes them bouncy and fun to walk in and the design is girlie without being too girlie and unusual with the little stitch detail and retro-patterened lining. They have a reasonably wide fitting, which is rare among the usual crop of mary jane and ballerina pumps and while not quite as dainty as some, they’re definitely cute and fashionable enough to go with a pair of tights and a skirt or a dress.
In fact, these shoes are the sort that would go well with just about anything so would make a good pair of “default shoes” to have and wear constantly with every imaginable outfit. They’re pretty cheap, too.
These are available from Schuh. They’re called “hard copy”, for some reason. They also come in brown.
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.
These simple but cute flat lace up pumps by Babycham are called “Rockabilly Flash”. I’m not quite sure why they’re called rockabilly. Maybe it’s because they sort of look a bit like bowling shoes or maybe they look like they’d be nice to have a dance in. Of course, it could all be a clever bit of marketing, but who cares? They’re pretty.
They are black and somewhat shiny with the perforated patent-effect look and have a slightly pointy toe and a white embroidered babycham logo on the back. I like the fact that the top eyelets for the laces are star-shaped and the colourful lining is a nice touch as well, though obviously less noticable when you’re wearing them.
These look wicked on. You could wear them instead of pilms or trainers and they’d fit right in but look slightly different at the same time. They come in this black colour or a slightly odd white with multi-coloured eyelets and a red embroidered logo.
Available (in the UK at least) exclusively from Schuh.
