October 06, 2020 3 min read

We’re often asked about the shoes we feature in our photoshoots, as well as the shoes we wear ourselves and with so many great options on the market, we thought we’d pull together a list of some of our favourite brands to help you take a step in the right direction. Setting up sustainable habits starts from the ground up, so where better to start than with a fab pair of sustainable sneakers!

VEJA

VEJA, the Brazilian word for ‘look’, have been making environmentally friendly shoes since 2005. They say that the idea behind a pair of VEJA sneakers is to be standing up with one foot in design and the other in social responsibility and the goal of their design studio is simple: create sneakers that will stand the test of time. Their shoes are made with raw materials sourced from organic farming and ecological agriculture, without chemicals or polluting processes and with over 3.5 million pairs sold since they launched, VEJA is a firm favourite with environmentally-conscious shoppers around the world.

Good News

The Good News ethos is ‘choose well. buy less and make it last’ and their aim is to create a platform to promote a healthy planet by striving to improve the environmental and social sustainability of their products. They do this by decreasing their carbon, chemical and water footprint, whilst caring for the people who make the shoes. The Good News range of shoes for men and women includes both high top and low top sneakers in a variety of colours and materials and you can see a full component breakdown on their site so you can be confident that these shoes really are good news (for you and the environment!)

Cariuma

Born in Brazil, Cariuma shoes are sustainable, comfortable and timeless. Cariuma co-founders, David and Fernando, left their corporate jobs with a shared idea to build a company that would better serve people and the planet. They embrace personal style over status-quo trends and empower conscious consumers to buy quality over quantity. The company curates premium raw materials in order to yield a smaller footprint, making their shoes with materials like bamboo, cork and recycled plastic.

Po-Zu

Stemming from the Japanese word meaning ‘to pause’, Po-Zu creates sustainable and ethical footwear that is good for your feet and for the environment or, as they put it, “shoes with a good sole”. All materials used are from naturally renewable sources and are responsibly harvested. In 2016, to celebrate a decade of making shoes, the company launched The Better Shoes Foundation which is working towards a blueprint for a whole new footwear industry - one that is good for consumers, workers, and the environment.

Yatay

Yatay sneakers encourage its wearers to ‘walk a better path’ and it’s easy to do so in a pair of these ultra-stylish, eco-friendly and PETA-approved shoes. Born in 2018, Yatay is on a mission to prove that uncompromised quality can be achieved without sacrificing sustainability. Each pair of Yatay shoes carries a unique code on the heel that you can enter on their website, choose a tree and plant it then monitor its growth and CO2 reduction. They also have a service to collect old shoes for recycling so that the sole can be recycled and the remaining components sustainably disposed of.

Rens

Founded in Finland, Rens is the world’s first sneaker made from coffee and recycled plastic. They launched in the summer of 2019 and since then have strived to produce design-driven, feature-rich apparel that is sustainable by default. Thanks to a coffee-infused liner creating an impermeable seal, Rens trainers are 100% waterproof and according to their site, their shoes are “softer than eating a marshmallow on a feather bed.” These effortlessly stylish and 100% vegan shoes are available in a range of colours for both men and women.

Allbirds

Probably one of the more recognisable brands on the list, Allbirds create simple and sustainable shoes free from flashy logos and senseless details. Their New Zealand inspired shoes are made from superfine merino wool that is breathable, temperature-regulating, and moisture-wicking. Thanks to the use of this wool, their process uses 60% less energy than materials used in typical synthetic shoes. The laces are made from recycled bottles and the packaging comes from recycled cardboard. Not only this, but they work with Soles4Souls® to help lightly used Allbirds find new life all around the world, helping communities in need thrive in the process.


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