Vegan Shoe Addict

New Rock make serious boots. I always wanted to get a pair but they were always leather leather leather. Then Good ol’ Pennangalan started doing the Vegan New Rocks. They’ve had them for a while, but I’ve only just gotten around to writing about them properly. In fact, just looking at them now is reminding me I still haven’t bought myself a pair. Now I’m thinking, where am I going to get £150 from?

I love how sturdy and heavy these look. New Rock make really hard wearing shoes with good construction. So I can only assume the vegan version will be well-constructed too. I love the metal inserts and I love that they have a side zip, cause, well, I’m lazy when it comes to putting shoes on and taking them off. Total awesomeness.

I also like the fact that Pennangalan can make other New Rock styles out of the vegan material, which opens up a whole world of exciting possibilities. New Rock make some truly brilliant, heavy duty boots.

You can get these from Pennangalan.

These convertible winter boots by Dirty Laundry can be worn as ankle boots or at full height. Fleece lined to make your feet warm (and to look cool), these somewhat resemble biker boots and have a funky side strap on the outside and a zip on the inside for easy on/off action.

These look like a decent enough choice for vegan winter boots, though I am not sure I like the distressed material seemingly used for parts of them. As I’ve said before in my post about vegan biker boots, I think it makes shoes look unnecessarily cheap, but that look seems to be quite popular now, so you may well not mind that “feature”.

While not exactly at the cutting edge of designer fashion, the design is nice enough for the price ($69). These are definitely on the cheap and cheerful end of the Vegan shoe range, but with such a shortage of decent vegan boots, they may well be perfect for keeping your feet warm in relative style. They are also available in brown.

You can get them from the Chinese Laundry site.

Wellies, Wellington boots or rain boots are a somewhat controversial footwear choice when it comes to one’s fashion sense. Originally designed for farmers and gardeners, they are not what you’d normally expect people to be running round in on their way to a night at the opera. But while it’s true that wellies and rain boots are not quite high class, the crappy weather that “graces” the many UK summer festivals, has created a need for funky rubber boots. In the UK, summer is traditionally the high season for the fashion-wellie. In big American cities (and elsewhere), however, I’ve seen women happily walking around with fashionable versions of the rain boot. The recent biblical floods experienced across the British Isles seem like a good enough reason to write about some interesting takes on the concept of the humble rubber boot, because I think some of them are actually quite cute and make for a good and reliable vegan boot choice. Today’s offerings are in the mod and biker department, of which there seem to be a fine variety.

These Sperry Top-sider boots are pretty neat, with a wicked wedge heel and a folded cuff at the top. They come in several colour combinations, seen here in white with a white cuff, black wedge and a big black button, which makes them look very mod indeed.
These are also available from the Amazon.com website

And if it’s the rainproof vegan mod look you’re after, check these out too. Made by Tretorn, who are apparently Swedish, these look seriously 60s in this white version and the yellow version they also come in. There are also two-tone version that look slightly less 60s and are also totally striking. They don’t even look like they’re made of rubber in the picture, though I’m sure they would if you looked closely.
These are also available from Amazon.com.

And now for the rubber biker boot part of this post.

I already wrote about the Schuh version of biker boot-inspired wellies (shown in the post in not very biker-like purple, but they do come in black too). This is the Office shoes take on the biker wellie – full height and with an extra strap, buckle and O-ring detail. Not too shabby for a wellie, really, though still based on the traditional wellie look and feel. Available from the Office website, where you can also find standard wellies with funky designs.

These boots from the Bloomingdale’s website are somewhat similar but are, in fact, less traditional. You can tell the difference between boots that are thought of as “rain boots” (urban) and those designed with the wellie concept firmly in mind (field conditions, such as a festival or a farm).
These are definitely in the rain boot department and are therefore classier and could potentially even go with your regular day clothes. Kinda. Gotta love the looping detail and chunky ring, though the flat sole would probably not work so well in a field (pretty good for the city streets, though!).

These vegan platform boots are solid, chunky, durable and 100% vegetarian / vegan!

OK, so it’s not exactly difficult to find vegan goth / punk / alternative shoes on the Internet, but these are reasonably priced and not as flimsy as some of the other ones out there.

These are the ones I nearly bought, but in the end I bought a pair of the Nova boots, as I thought I’d get more wear out of them (which I have. I wear them all the time).

Like the Novas, they were instantly comfortable and look absolutely great on. Somewhat biker-style, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the kind of outfits they’d go with. Some boots are made for walking, these are definitely made for stomping. They are definitely on my shoe wishlist for this winter and beyond.

These are truly impressive vegan boots and although not quite victorian, they could still blend in with a steampunk outfit. If you’re keen to look more “period”, though, I’d check out the other vegan steampunk boots I wrote about earlier.

These boots are available from Schuh directly. They are self-explanatorily named “Schuh Multi Buckle Lace Boots”.

Not quite classic biker boots but said to be “biker inspired”, these are really awesome boots from Schuh’s own brand. I actually own a pair of these and can confirm that they are hard-wearing, instantly comfortable and look even better on than they do in the pictures. I bought my pair in Edinburgh after seeing a girl walk around in them and being bitterly jealous thinking they must be leather. Then I saw them in the shop window, had a look and…the rest is history. I walked all around town in them on the day I bought them and didn’t even have a single blister, then took them to Burning Man festival where they survived an apocalypse of corrosive dust and intense daily walks and cycles. They came back so covered in dust, the woman who sold me the shoe polish for them wanted to know what colour they were (BLACK! They are BLACK boots!). However, they quickly cleaned up beautifully and are as lovely as ever.

They have an inside zip for easy on/off action and run a bit large so you can wear thick socks inside. Currently selling at 59.99 at Schuh.

Vegan biker boots? You would not believe how difficult they are to find.
Winter is a time when shoe manufacturers fall back on leather as their main material and you are left with specialist stores or the cheap stuff. Also, leather kinda goes with the territory when it comes to the biker look so finding “fakes” is a double pain. I gotta be honest with you: when it comes to the biker look, we’re talking slim pickings compared to the plethora of gorgeous leather choices.

I’ve wanted a pair of decent vegetarian biker boots for years and so far I’ve just kept on looking. The ones I’ve seen are all nice enough, but they seem to lack that simplicity and solid feel so many of the leather ones have.

Here’s my first roundup of this year’s offerings. You may well find something you like here.
Please note that these are all biker “style” boots, rather than those that provide actual protection for bikers, so don’t go having bike accidents in them or you will be severely disappointed.

First up are these lightweight boots from Rocket Dog. They are called “chain gang”. Sadly, Rocket Dog’s best biker boots (the “Nokout”) are not veggie, so as far as I’m concerned, all their other biker boots are cheap imitations of the fitted, slick version I would have liked to own. Keeping that in mind, these chain gang ones are not too bad, if a bit slouchy for my taste. They look a bit like a cross between a biker boot and a pirate boot, which I’m not so sure about. The strap detailing is a nice touch and I do like the slick, shiny look. They are available in black and brown at Schuh.co.uk

Rocket Dog also make these Chomps boots – chunky biker boots available in black and brown. I like their shape better than the chain gang ones, though I am not a fan of the distressed look at all. It doesn’t look too bad in brown, but the black version just looks wrong. If I wanted my boots to look worn out, I’d wear them out myself rather than shave a few years off their lifespan before even leaving the shop.
If, however, you can’t wait for your boots to make actual history and want them to look instantly “bought before anyone else’s”, you’ll get along with these just fine. All in all, these are reasonably stylish and bound to be comfortable boots. They are available in black and brown at Schuh.co.uk

Twisted Sister, these vegetarian biker boots from BlowFish, offer a different take on the distressed look and also come in the popular black and brown options. The buckle detailing is slightly more understated on these and they seem to be wider in the calf area than the Rocket Dog ones.
Available to buy at Office shoes .

Vegetarian Shoes make these biker-like pull on engineer boots that offer more of that solid feel. They are steel toed (they now make a non-steel toed version that’s slightly different looking), well made and durable, though are unisex and therefore not quite as stylish as one would like.

Pennangalan’s Vegan range is sadly lacking in straight biker boots, though they do offer calf-length strappy commando boots that are not bad, plus a style of New Rock boot often favoured by bikers.

And last but not least… Not quite a biker boot, but a biker boot inspired wellie from the lovely people at Schuh.co.uk. Available in purple, black and red with a polka dot lining, it’s slightly shorter than your average wellie. Here in London, people usually wear wellies when visiting the muddy fields of the UK’s summer festivals, but further afield, they are a common enough choice for the rainy winter months.