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.

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!].

The silhouette’s of these two shoes should be pretty familiar to you by now.  The Ramos is a mid shoe, almost chukka like in its design, but with a distinct heel pattern (here, the light brown plaid madras) that usually contrasts quite starkly with the rest of the shoe.  The Nuss is an interesting design, most notably in the fold down ankle.  It’s rarely pictured with the ankle piece folded up, but it looks pretty clean like that.  At least you can get two looks out of it.

Nuss and Ramos available at Karmaloop.

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.

As a very frugal person, I had to swallow the price tag of $150.  As a matter of principle I don’t believe in paying over $100 for a pair of shoes.  But I was willing to make an exception in this case.  These are a quality pair of shoes.  They are hand made in Portugal, fair-trade, and environmentally friendly.  And also I see it as supporting two great companies.  If you’re going to spend a few extra bucks, you might as well do it on the businesses you really believe in.

Cop these at Moo Shoes.

P.S. These run big.  I would recommend buying a size down.  I usually wear 10 in men’s dress shoes but I had to get 9 in these.  Then again I have narrow feet.

P.P.S. it’s hard to tell the actual color because the pictures are so different.  I took mine from my phone so they look darker than they actually are.  But the ones I took from the web seem a lot lighter.  So really the shade is somewhere in between.

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.”

Good enough for me.  Based on my limited personal experience with Nike, I would have to say they are trustworthy.  They always get back to me very quickly with informed and detailed answers.  I wouldn’t bet that they were lying.  They seem to take their customer service very seriously, unlike other major brands.

The two models pictured above and below are the Nike Dunk Hi Premium ($143) and Lo Premium ($120).  These are available in the vegan materials of corduroy and twill.  And a whole host of colors!  It’s customizable down to the laces and sole.  Pretty sweet.  But be careful, this only applies to these two models.  They are the first two when you get to the page.  The others, if you try to customize them, you will learn that only leather is available.

While they are quite expensive, you are paying for all the customization.  And you can rest assured that they are vegan!  No more waiting for Nike to release colorways and hoping you like them, and then pray that the stupid swoosh isn’t leather.

Available at Nike iD HERE.

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.