Vegan Shoe Addict

Summer is here and look what I found! These sweet crochet trainers are airy enough to be worn without socks but are still technically closed toe shoes. I chose the creamy white colour to display as those seem more summery. think skipping merrily down a country lane in tweedy shorts or across a field with your white dress on and flowers in your hair. Of curse, these also come in a very nice black, for your slightly more new wave / goth summery lady or the hard edged urbanite.

Together, they’re like on of those pulp fiction books with the heroine that’s an innocent student by day and a slutty stripper by night. Almost tempted to get both.

You can get either or both of these at Office.

These fun vegan trainers are made out of nylon and fabric and can apparently be put through the washing machine repeatedly and come out clean and fresh. They come from Brasil, where people are encouraged to wear them to the beach without using socks, and are meant to be breathable and comfortable.

The company, MAZ, apparently keeps bringing out new colour combinations and styles (boots, lace up trainers, velcro-fastened trainers, etc.) for men and women and never repeat the same colour combo twice. I’m pretty sure just about all their shoes are unisex and come in a huge range of sizes, plus kids’ sizes. I’ve picked a particularly girly one to show here, but I assure you there are plenty of colourful manly designs to please the vegan macho man as well.

Yet another awesome footwear company from Brazil, the country that’s given us Melissa Shoes and a few other similar vegan shoe companies. Thanks, Brasil! You guys rock.

You can check out the range of MAZ shoes at the MAZ website. It’s in Portuguese, though. Supposedly you can find out more about how to get them in the UK by mailing: mazfashion@hotmail.co.uk which seems to be some sort of franchise or private import enterprise (here they are on Facebook). You can also check out the more readily available (in the UK, at least) Jinga trainers, also from Brasil.

Well, drool me a river! It’s never been easy to pull off the sexy, Gibsonesque, cyberpunk look while still being 100% vegan, but things just got easier. Even better, these gorgeous, futuristic boots are unisex. That’s right, they come in both men’s and women’s sizes! They’re by Fugu shoes, a Japanese company (of course). Have you donated to the Earthquake appeal yet?

They’re made of canvas and are high-tops, so are sort of trainer-like and Converse-like, but, to put it nicely – we’re talking fashion Fiesta Vs cyber Rolls Royce. The best thing about these, though, is that they’ll look equally as great with just normal street clothes – jeans and a T shirt. You don’t have to go crazy with your cyber look, but they’ll make you instantly a thousand times cooler as soon as you put them on.

You can get them from A Sense of Fashion, where there are plenty more Fugu Shoes for you to drool at.

Lacoste is one of those companies that seem to go in and out of fashion all the time (unless you’re one of those people who’s still living in the 80s on a yacht in a Miami marina, in which case it never went out of fashion). I just got given a Lacoste t shirt by a friend and it’s turned out to be surprisingly versatile and in keeping with my current style. So you can imagine my joy when I saw these for sale, reaffirming my belief in the power of living retro. They’re called “Womens Lacoste Millyann Mary Jane Trainers” (which you’ll need, to search for them on the site) and they are just about cute and different enough to make up for the fact that plims have come back into fashion and are probably going out of fashion again (or would be, if hipsters had something to replace them with).

Apart from these pretty yachting colours, they also come in a black, white and purple combo, which is pretty damn cute too. Perfect every day, casual shoes.

You can get them from Schuh.

Here’s a pair of fun trainers by Ed Hardy with one of their trademark tattoo flash designs worked into it. I’m always looking for interesting trainers, because, let’s face it, these sort of canvas trainers are among the most common vegan footwear around. I like it when you can have casual, comfortable shoes that still look funky and different enough so you don’t have to feel like a clone while wearing them. These are slip ons, as they don’t have laces, which makes them even more casually comfortable.

These are actually for women, as far as I can tell, not unisex. They come in a whole range of colours. I obviously went for the black and red, but there are also greens, purples and yellows that are pretty damn neat. I’m pretty sure most, if not all of the Ed Hardy shoes are vegan. I’ve written about some heels here before and I’m sure I’ll be delving into the Ed Hardy world again soon enough.

In the meantime, you can get these of Amazon/Endless

You may remember the totally very beautiful and unique recycled rice bag shoes I wrote about some time ago. Well, here’s another take on the genre, this time from Keen shoes, who seem to make sort of outdoorsy, sporty shoes. These effectively mary jane trainers and are made with woven strips of recycled rice bags. Apparently each one is slightly different, because of the different bags they use. Very cute concept. They remind me of those recycled bags you can get sometimes.
I don’t like these quite as much as the Wear Every Day ones, but they do look sporty and are especially designed to be comfy, plus apparently Keen are big on social responsibility and ethics.

You can get these straight from the Keen site.

Happy new year everyone!
We’re off the Office shoes sale and straight into the Schuh sale.

Because I’ve said I’ll write more about vegan men’s shoes, I thought I’d start the year with a pair. Start as I mean to go on and all that.
This post is actually coming at you from the past, as I have prepared it in advance, knowing fully well that I am probably way way too hungover and asleep to actually write anything right now. Thank you, WordPress schedule feature!

Anyway, I really like these. Shame they are only for men. The white and orange combo is really neat (orange soles, how cool?) plus, these “roger” high-tops by Momentum also have a cute skull eyelet on each shoe. I also like the high-top shape which is noticeably different from the usual Converse style.

At the time of writing there seemed to be plenty of these in stock. Hopefully, there still are, but at £15 a pair, you never know!

Get them (if you can) at the Schuh sale.

I spotted a pair of these in a shop window yesterday and managed to track them down online. As if moulded rubber lace up trainers in all kinds of mad and bright colours weren’t great enough, these ones are actually called “The Dude”, which reminds me of Big Lebowski and is therefore super uber great.

The downside is that they seem to come in only 3 sizes – small, medium and large. Handy if you’re more or less one of these sizes, not so much if you’re not. The larger sizes will fit men.

You can get them from OldgOLD.

Actually, these are technically unisex, but I am calling them men’s shoes because A. they look pretty manly and B. it’s been a while since I’ve had anything about vegan men’s shoes on here and I’ve just picked up some new Twitter followers who are decidedly male.

These high tops are made by Vegetarian Shoes in Europe out of hemp and microfibre so are eco-friendly, durable and ethically produced. They are nice and chunky and, while supposedly casual / skate shoes, are actually quite smart-casual. You could totally rock a hipster look in these.

You can get them from Vegetarian Shoes.

Another Christian Siriano and Payless collaboration. This time it’s these simple but funky trainers. The colour is certainly unusual and I love the vegan patent and zipper accents.

As Payless isn’t usually the place to shop for the ultra-stylish, high fashion shoe, I think you could easily get away with buying these and being the only one of your circle of friends to have them.

Here they are on the Payless site.

Hellooooo Topshop! I’ve not checked you out for a while, but hidden among your predominantly leathery shoe collection are these cute glittery high top trainers that are all nice and vegan. Simple yet effective and, let’s be honest, there’s nothing that can’t be made better with a bit of glitter really.

I like the shape as well. Different enough from the converse look to be interesting.
They also come in a crazy white and gold combo.

You can get them from Topshop.

Did you need any further proof that the 90s are back? These cute fabric high tops will lead you down the time tunnel of 90s fun in relative style. Great for the straight out of bed look cause they kinda look like slippers.

I’m not quite sure what I’d wear them with, apart from jeans or a black outfit, probably with some sort of flowery accents if I could find any that matched.

They also come in plain black, though I reckon if you’re gonna go there, go all out and get these.

You can get these from Schuh.

OK, I’ll be honest. I actually really like the looks of all those leather converse trainers. Shame they’re leather, huh?

Well, here’s ones that are made out of fake leather, for you guys who think canvas may look a bit… immature for some occasions and want to sport something a bit more grown up.

These are pretty neat and they’re also pretty cheap.

You can get them from the H&M site.

I usually don’t like prominent logos on my clothing, but when a company goes by the name of NAE (No Animal Exploitation) and puts that message in very obvious letters across a cute, unisex vegan trainer then all I can say is Bring it on!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pair of shoes that had an actual message on them. Usually that is reserved for T-shirts.
The closest I’ve seen is the Vegetarian Shoes logo, which can be read as more of a statement about the materials used than an actual message and is therefore somewhat less cool.

All NAE shoes are made ethically in Spain and Portugal and the company is run by people who care deeply about people, animals and the environment. Good luck, guys!

Check out the NAE site for these and more shoes.

Ooooh! These have a bit of the lumberjack about them, do they not? They make me think of log fires, comfy sofas and hot toddies. They are unisex and come in both men and women’s sizes. They are called The Guerra and come in a host of different fabric patterns that are perfect for fitting in with both an urban and a rural style.

They’re made by ethical, cruelty-free company Keep.

You can get them from the Keep website.