Veggie Shoes

Posted on July 23, 2009 in Accessories, Shoes.

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I like meat. I like leather. Is it a primal thing? Perhaps. I’ve just always loved the smell of quality leather, and the look of beaten leather boots. But I’ve never really given it a second thought. Virtually all stylish shoes are derived from animals, as are belts and luxury car interiors. It’s just the way my world worked.

But I recently had a somewhat of an eye-opening experience when I went shopping with a friend of mine. He’s pescetarian and doesn’t wear leather. I started thinking about how difficult it would be to find stylish shoes if you didn’t wear leather. It definitely threw me. So, I decided to poke around on the internets to see what I could find out.

I know it’s not for everybody and that I haven’t done a post on shoes, but consider this a prelude to the primer.

Dress Shoes

The hardest type of shoe by far to find in non-leather varieties. But I did find some great stylish alternatives in a variety of price ranges.

Noharm has a great shop on Amazon to purchase their shoes. They’re a little expensive (~$275), but they are by far the best looking vegan dress shoes that I’ve seen (in my brief experience of poking around).

On the less expensive side is this dress shoe from Vegan Chic.

The biggest collection of shoes that I’ve seen is Vegetarian Shoes. Here are two pairs that straddle the line between dressy and casual wear.

Casual shoes


These should be easier, because so many great casual shoes are non-leather and are mostly canvas.

I’ve gotta start with the old reliable Chuck’s, which pretty much look good on anybody. You have your basics, but with the super sweet customization feature, why not make your own? Here’s what I came up with in 5 minutes of messing around:

A slight variant on the Chuck is the line by designer John Varvatos. I think these look a little bit cooler, a bit more put together. They’re also (from experience) a bit more resilient than the classic Chuck’s.

Here’s another great pair of canvas sneakers from Simple.

Here are some cool flip flops from Simple as well.

And hemp flip flops from Rainbow.

Faux-leather flip flops from Okabashi.

Bags & Accessories

I have to highlight this company because of their seriously cool looking stuff. Matt & Nat make some awesome non-leather bags and wallets with prices that are surprisingly reasonable as well. Here are just a couple of laptop bags.

The Vegan Collection has a cool formal belt in brown and black.

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So this just proves that, with a little bit of searching, you can personalize any aspect of your wardrobe, and still have modern style.

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Tagged: boots , chucks , faux-leather , faux-suede , flip flops , hemp , organic cotton , vegan shoes , veggie shoes