Tired of wearing only one brand *cough, Vans* slip on? Give this Macbeth McQueen a look. It’s sporting a low profile EVA sole, and has a textured insole, which has to be better than whatever Vans slaps on in there. As a shout out to their musician centric perspective, peep the little metal guitar pick on the tongue.
Available in red and black at Macbeth
Source: Sneaker Freaker
I thought I’ve listed every single Vans canvas shoe at least twice on this blog, so thank you Vans for putting out something new. The Vans Style 31 is pretty much re-treading the same tried and true formula – the high gum sole and silhouette a la Authentic and Era. But there are some noticeable differences. Primarily, you can see that the lace loops are wider, giving it a look more like the Chuck Taylor All Star. That’s pretty much it. If you want something the same, but different, give these a look.
Available in navy at Urban Outfitters.
This one was a no-brainer. The CONS CTS Ox looks just like your Chuck Taylor All Star, but packs a few extra features. The canvas and laces are “high abrasion” (whatever that means) and there is padding on the tongue and ankle. It’s not crazy, but I rock a pair of CTS Mids and there is definitely a difference in comfort. The regular All Stars have no support at all; definitely wouldn’t wear a pair of those skating. These, though, are a great upgrade and a classic in my opinion.
CONS CTS Ox in black canvas available at Premier.
Click down for more pics.
Keep always has some of the best sneakers around, and they never let it get dull by using unique materials and patterns. Pictured above, the Ramos and Nuss incorporate a great combination of brown twill forefoot and madras on the heel. Twill is not actually a type of material, but is textile weave of a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs. Madras is a lightweight cotton fabric usually with a texture and plaid design. [thank you, Wikipedia!].
Happy New Year everyone! Vegankicks is ready for another great year of animal-free action. I’m going to start things off in 2012 with a pair that I personally just procured – the Dennis (in brown suede) by Novacas. This purchase was a little more out of necessity than anything, as I seriously needed shoes for “business casual” attire. That in itself is a whole bag of gripes, and I’ll leave that out of here. But as those concerns were on my mind, I came across these at Moo Shoes. Now, I have seen the Dennis in black faux leather before, and I would NOT recommend those. They look cheap and uninspired. But when I saw them in brown suede, I couldn’t resist. It’s strange how much the material and color can really make a difference. I would highly recommend these, as they are sharp enough for the office, but simple and casual enough to wear with a pair of jeans.
Dickies and Converse are teaming up this spring to release a line of Chuck Taylor All Stars. The first shoe is the classic Chuck Taylor low featuring Dickies detailing in the heel. The other is an all new classic boot – a design inspired by the classic work boot, featuring a moc toe rather than the typical rubber toecap. Both designs will feature an upper that is made of the classic Dickies twill.
Source: Hypebeast
This is an interesting and appealing twist for someone who’s bored of plain white soles. Size? of England is selling this Nike Court Force Low Multi-Colored Pack as part of their deadstock inventory. Unfortunately when I checked there were only ridiculously small sizes available, so it probably won’t even be available for the majority of you. But maybe some of you have kids that you might want to see rocking these? Black canvas upper, with rainbow stitching. The sole speaks for itself – it looks like they just smushed it on a surface covered with paint gobs.
Available at Size? for £65.00
Hey all! Sorry I have been M.I.A. Too much work + life. I don’t know how some of these bloggers are so prolific. Do they have day jobs?
Anyway, I have a pretty cool update (thanks to my buddy John). Turns out that some of the Nike iD Dunks are available in non-animal materials. Skeptical of Nike as always, I emailed their customer service department. Here’s what they wrote:
“With twill/corduroy options selected, this entire model is non-animal, down to the glue, stitching, etc. No inner leather or animal material, etc.”
Hawaiian skate shop In4mation has teamed up with Vans OTW previously, but I never seen it widely available. Thankfully, they’ve re-released the Bedford (in denim) and you can get them at skate shops and other online retailers. They changed the sole from before, but brown gum works for me. Use white and you pretty much have a Half-Cab.
Anyway, you can get these at Premier for $80. Click down for more pics.
This post is long overdue, considering we are already past Thanksgiving here in the States. Under normal weather conditions, the air is hovering near freezing and the ground is hardening. Cold rain falls, sometime turning into ice and sleet. You could wake up to snow on any given day. But this year has been unusually warm, at least out here in mid-Atlantic. Aside from one freak snow storm, this fall has been mild and forgiving. But that doesn’t mean the next few months won’t be nasty, wet and cold. Of course, none of this applies to my friends living in colder climes. You guys have to deal with way more shitty weather than us. So this one is for all yall.
Being an inhabitant of a large city (without access to a personal automobile), one is keenly aware of daily weather conditions. An unforeseen rain storm can leave you drenched, an unexpected cold front will leave you shivering. Needless to say, we city dwellers, who actually have to walk and be exposed to the elements, are hypersensitive to the needs of our feet. When the winter comes, we would like to keep them warm and dry. As a child of the suburbs, I never bought or wore boots. I somehow got away with wearing sneakers always. Maybe that’s because I was a dense child, but when you have a car that can take you right to where you need to go, you don’t have to worry about being exposed for prolonged periods of time.
What I’m trying to get at is that a solid, warm, water-resistant (and of course stylish) boot is essential to any person’s shoe collection. For your average person, getting a pair is as easy as going to your local sporting good store, or clicking a few times on Zappos. For us, who are trying to abstain from leather and other animal products, this proves a more difficult task. Now mind you, when I say difficult I don’t mean impossible, or even frustrating. No, I mean difficult like there are so many great looking leather boots that it’s hard to resist buying a pair!
But do not fear. Before you I present several stylish and functional alternatives to the leather boot paradigm. Some are made by known vegan brands. The others are not in that group but offer up alternative materials in common molds which would commonly use leather.
Click to see the shoes, I mean boots!
