It’s nice to live in an era when innovations that help save our planet are rolling out faster than ever. We are able to pick and choose the best products that ring true to our thoughts and ideas about the issues we care most about. That includes having more consumer options even down to the shoes on our feet.
Here are five forward-thinking shoe brands that give back to the environment while still designing hip footwear for the masses. Do you know of others?
All Birds creates footwear with Trino (their proprietary blend of ZQ Merino wool and eucalyptus tree fiber. They also use materials including recycled cardboard and plastic bottles as well as castor bean oil. www.allbirds.com
One of the biggest concerns for our planet is ocean plastic. It’s one of those problems that literally keeps me up some nights because it is literally destroying our seas and oceans and we can see it happening in greater instances and in more massive amounts.
Adidas partnered with Parley to create shoes designed entirely from ocean plastic found on remote beaches and coastal communities. Ocean plastic is spun into yarn that is used in the Adidas x Parley shoe and clothing collaboration. www.adidas.com/us/parley
Rothys is another shoe brand that tackles the plastic situation, only this time from landfills. They take plastic bottles that would end up at your local dump and never decay and turn them into sustainable, durable flats. I’ve heard they are super comfortable. Plus, you have the comfort of knowing your purchase is going to help the environment. It’s far better to wear bottles on your feet than have them pile up in landfills. To date, they have used 30 million plastic bottles in their shoes.
Chances are you either own a pair of Sperry boat shoes or know someone who does. They were the first on the market with their boat shoes in 1935. No wonder they have created their eco-friendly BIONIC line that also tackles the ocean plastics plague.
Sperry has partnered with BIONIC & Waterkeeper Alliance to help protect marine environments from plastics. To date, they have recovered the equivalence of over 4.3 million plastic bottles from the oceans and make their shoes from BIONIC material spun plastic. www.sperry.com/en/bionic
Nothing New has created canvas low and high tops that look great and do good at the same time. They use 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, 100% post-industrial fishing nets, recycled cotton, conflict-free copper and zinc, and recycled rubber and cork. In other words Nothing New’s shoes use 100% recycled materials. nothingnew.com.
We have come a long way from basic canvas and vegan leather shoes to make a conscious statement about our footwear.
Have you heard of other shoe companies that are helping to save the environment?
Social Good Moms 