Vegan Shoe Addict

Yay, glitter! These brogue flats look like dancing shoes and have white glitter where the standard white would be. To be perfectly honest, I actually prefer the design of Office’s standard version of these, without the glitter because the lines look cleaner and the lacing is a bit more delicate. Guess what, though? Those aren’t vegan and these
certainly are. They also come in a rather dishy all blue version (blue glitter and plain blue PU).

These look a bit like dancing shoes and while not exactly pro quality dance shoes, I reckon you could quite easily wear them as such if need be. As I’ve mentioned here before, vegan shoes
usually come with not very grippy soles, which may be bad for walking on the slippery pavement if it’s been raining a bit too much (depending on the individual shoe), but is perfect for the dance floor.

You can get these from Office.

Aren’t these fun? These cute oxford-like shoes would look great as a summer alternative to the less cut-outy original, or you could wear them with boldly coloured socks or tights for the full effect.

They are pretty retro, but the cut outs make them stand out from the plethora of other oxfords around.

I reckon these are pretty cool shoes that can be turned into a statement or just allowed to blend in quietly with an overall look. Not too expensive at 35 UKP.

You can get them from Next.

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.

Here’s a cool pair of vegan brogues for the guys. I’d say they’re more in the realm of work shoes than, say, the ultra-cool vintage brogues you’d wear with your zoot suit, but they are still pretty funky.

I really like the pattern both inside and out and the pointed toe is cool. It’s second only to the rounded toe in my book (I loathe square toed shoes for blokes). All in all, these are actually pretty retro and smarter than the Vegetarian Shoes brogues I wrote about a while back.

If you’re a vegan guy looking for a cool pair of shoes to wear with your suit to work, etc. then you should definitely take a look at these.
They’re made by NOHARM who are 100% vegan, ethical and cool. Handmade in Italy.

You can see these on the NOHARM site where you can find out where to get them.

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 elsewhere (arriving from Australia, where they can also custom make some of the other styles in non-leather materials and in different colours. I believe they ship all over the world).