For my first post, I wanted to write about my favorite shoes, Zig Zags. I love these shoes. They are cheap ($20 a pop), comfortable, and snazzy. Of course, with the cheap price tag, you also get inconsistent sizing but it’s only a minor problem since they are all canvas. I’d recommend getting a half size smaller than your normal size. Be sure to pick them up from Status Foe because the guy who runs it is great. Check out the high top and slip on versions after the jump. They are available in several colors.
Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

Finally!  Thanks to one of my very helpful readers, RGC, I am happily introducing a vegan Vans Half Cab!  This is one of those iconic skate shoes that every skater has to own at some point, along with, I’d say the Es Eric Koston, Etnies Sal Barbier, and maybe the Emerica Andrew Reynolds (up to debate of course).  I am sad to say that I never got to experience the awesome grippiness of the Half Cab myself, and since I’ve stopped buying non-leather shoes, I thought I never would.  But I was wrong!  The Vans Crespi Half Cab comes in black with white pinstripes, and a “wild dove” color which is really grey with red stripes.  The material is some kind of textile, but not sure what.  It looks like either canvas or just plain cotton.  Anyway, I am really feeling the pin stripe look, and the color accent on the toe area of the sole.

The black colorway is available at Vans.com, but the wild dove colorway is more elusive.  Crooked Tongues is sold out of them, but may re-stock soon.  Check their site for some updates.

My girlfriend would look good in these, that is basically all I have to say in terms of looks.  We are not paying attention to the black and white ones, since they are made of leather.   But I like the canvas ones more anyway.  Grease is over, people.  Anyway, these are available at Bows and Arrows or CCS.

Dear Readers:

I have to apologize for my laziness.  Recently, I have posted on a few shoes I thought were vegan, but turned out not to be.  This wouldn’t be a big deal had it not been so obvious and been happening with increasing regularity.  These mistakes have been pointed out to me by you, my readers, who have been so supportive and understanding about my lapses.  However, I don’t want to lose your trust.  That’s why I am committing myself to conduct better due diligence before posting, to make sure that I’m trying my best to determine that these shoes are in fact cruelty-free.  This will not necessarily be a perfect process, because there is a learning curve to this.  I can just look for the few brands that make vegan shoes and post frequently on them, but I’m not really interested in that.  I would rather find vegan or vegetarian shoes that are made by some of the bigger names or lesser known releases.  This often makes it harder to verify some shoes as vegan.  But I believe in the integrity of the site more than anything.  Without that, you will think I am a hack.  So you can rest assured that I will be more careful and scrutinizing about shoes that are not billed as vegan, but I am putting on this site nonetheless.  That is all I can guarantee you.  As for the non-vegan shoes I mentioned earlier, I will not delete those posts, but will correct them or make notations to let future readers know (I can’t expect them to all pay attention to the comments).  Thanks again for your support, I hope that you keep reading, commenting, and helping me make a better blog.

- Henry

First I have to apologize for my last post.  I thought that those Supra Cuban 1.5‘s were creature-less, but I was outed by one of my loyal readers (thanks Hugues).  I’ve been doing that a lot lately, just goes to show that I’m not being careful enough, or I just get too excited when I see something I like.  Anyway, I am PRETTY SURE these Habitat Ibex in grey are not made with any animal parts.  The top is synthetic leather (confirmed by multiple sources), the soles are made of a recycled gum rubber, and the glues are water-based.  As for the looks, I’m feelin’ it.  You got your nice mid-top silhouette, canvas tongue, and some accent stitching.  Overall, it’s a nice take on the classic Vans Half-Cab, but animal friendly.  Available at Premier and Skate Warehouse (it’s a few bucks cheaper at Premier).  Enjoy!

NOTE: LACES ARE LEATHER

Supra has released the Cuban 1.5 in a couple of new colorways this spring – grey and red.  This interesting low is made out of animal friendly canvas, and pure white sole (looks vulcanized).  As the weather gets warmer we’ll see all sorts of slip ons and lows, but these give a slightly unique look with the unusual lacing system.  I’d like to see a little bit more color contrast, maybe with the lace or a stripe on the sole, but these are nice nonetheless.  Available at Wish.

Hey everyone, so I’ve been itching to get in something about some Clae shoes since I’ve been really impressed with their classy style and high quality materials.  Apparently Jay-Z was rocking a pair one of his new music videos!  And now they are dropping some really nice new kicks this spring.  Much to my (our) disappointment, however, most of Clae shoes are not vegan.  After contacting them, they informed me that the only vegan shoe they have is the Bruce, and only in the Pacific and Lemon color.  Ugh, out of all of the sweet sweet releases they could only come up with these?  I guess we have to take what we can get but I hope Clae experiments with different, non animal materials.  I have yet to find somewhere that sells these, so let me know if you know, thanks!

If you want to see the rest of the spring release, check out Nice Kicks.

Clae Bruce (Boulder). This is a suede shoe but I wanted to show what it looks like from the front

These are some new Pro Keds CVO in navy/white at Wish.  Nothing super special here, but your simple low canvas kicks.  They remind me a lot of the Vans Authentic, but the PK’s have their own subtle flourishes, like the red and black stripe on the sole, as well as their branding on the heel and tongue.  Available at Wish.

Band of Outsiders has collaborated with Sperry Topsider to bring you some pretty sweet boat shoes in some interesting materials and colorways.  Fortunately for us ethical shoppers, they’ve also included some kicks in canvas and other fabrics.  Two models I spotted are navy canvas and seersucker.  I’ve never seen boat shoes in seersucker, and I’m surprised about that, but it seems so natural.  I like how the navy canvas ones have the multi-colored striped sole, with the contrasting white stitching.  The GQ part of me (little as it may be) wants to rock the seersucker and go to the horse racing track!  (just kidding about that!).  No I would do something way more drab like go the Costco or Ikea.  Lame.  But these shoes aren’t!  Available at Bows and Arrows.

Here are some Vans just 4 da Ladeez, and just in time for Spring.  The Lesley is a ballet flat shoe that is simple, clean, and pointy toed (I am really struggling here).   It features a linen or canvas upper with satin lining (oooh), some prints on the inside, a wrapped mini-heel and micro-rubber outsole.  I would like to remind you guys/girls that these aren’t included in the list of vegan models provided by the company, so it’s possible animal parts were used in the glues or some other part of the construction.   And there are some other slipper type kicks that could be either synthetic or fabric, I just can’t tell by looking or by the description.  And sorry I couldn’t find a better pic of the blue one… but it was featured in Lucky magazine.  My sister reads that!  You can get the Lesley in black or blue/purple at Vans.com.