Are you vegan or vegetarian? Are you fed up of seeing gorgeous shoes and not being able to buy them because they are made of leather?
Why not write to the shoe companies you like and ask them to make more vegan shoes?
The more of us write in and let companies know we want to give them our money, the more likely we are to get them on our side.
Nowadays, you can just get in touch with shoe companies via their social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Even just tweeting a simple message like “Can you please make vegan shoes? I love your designs but can’t wear your shoes because I don’t wear leather” and tagging your favourite “wish they were vegan” company should help. Feel free to use the #moreveganshoesplease hashtag when you do it.
You can also fire up an email to any shoe company. You can use the sample text I’ve written below. Just copy it, add their name at the top and your name at the bottom and choose between vegan or vegetarian as applicable. You can add comments or edit things to make it more personal (always better) then just email it to your favourite shoe comapny’s email address with your subject of choice (maybe “More Vegan Shoes, please!”).
Yes, this really works. More and more companies are adding vegan ranges. When I started this blog, Dr. Martens didn’t have a vegan range at all, but consumer pressure made them offer first one 100% vegan boot, then a whole range. As more people become vegan / stop wearing leather, more companies will follow.
Here’s the sample email text:
Dear (company or person’s name goes here) ,
Your shoes are amazing and I would love to be able to buy them.
However, I am a vegetarian / vegan and have chosen not to buy or use leather products for ethical reasons. This means I cannot buy any of your shoes, even though I really like your style.
I realise that even in this day and age leather is still the industry standard material for making shoes. Ethical living and conscious consumerism are growing trends, though, and veganism and vegetarianism are on the increase worldwide.
Today’s vegetarians and vegans come from all walks of life and many, like myself, are fashion conscious and interested in current fashion trends and style. A quick search on the Internet will show you how big the vegan and vegetarian fashion scene is. All of these are potential customers, who are currently unable to buy any of your products.
Many shoes could be easily adapted to the vegan lifestyle by replacing non-vegan linings and soles with alternative vegan materials. Synthetic glues are also becoming more common nowadays, with many companies preferring them to animal-derived glues. With growing awareness of eco living and today’s technological advances, there are now many viable alternatives to the use of animal products in shoemaking available. Making use of these would allow you to offer a truly cruelty-free product without damaging the quality and overall appearance of the shoe.
Please consider following in the footsteps of many other respected shoe designers and companies who have introduced a vegan range in their collections, so that vegans and vegetarians like myself can proudly wear your designs.
Kindest regards,
(your name goes here)
Definitely going to be supporting and promoting this campaign in our store and on our site at https://boutiqueonthegreen.co.uk/collections/vegan
Keep up the great work guys