More Eco-Friendly Shoes...

I've been telling a lot of people lately about how it's actually not THAT hard to go eco-friendly, and even cruelty-free altogether (no animal skins or furs), with shoes and accessories. (Seriously y'all, it's Easy Being Green!) So I thought I'd share some resources that make it easy-peasy to find eco-friendly shoes - and a few of my favorite recent eco-friendly finds.

Zappos
Best shoe site ever. So of course they make it easy!
http://www.zappos.com/vegetarian.zhtml.

"For those who have tried, finding non-leather shoes can be a daunting, almost impossible, task. Specifically for those kind individuals, here's a collection of vegetarian shoes for secure, cruelty-free peace of mind. With advances in synthetic manufacturing, non-leather materials are now virtually identical to their genuine counterparts, but with none of the guilt."

You can even leave your email on that page to be notified when new vegetarian products are added. Genius! (That's also REALLY smart marketing right there.)

Zappos also has a kick-ass e-commerce feature which allows you to show product results based on categories of your choosing. I chose womens, eco-friendly, shoes and received 476 results - http://www.zappos.com/womens-eco-friendly-shoes~g! The only problem is what flies as "eco-friendly" isn't always cruelty-free. Zappos does do a great job however of describing their products well and detailing what all parts of the shoes (upper, sole, etc.) are made of - and I appreciate that.

I'm really diggin' Timberland's new "Earthkeepers" collection, but they're not leather and suede free unfortunately. Timberland would totally have my vote if they were using recycled leather like they are recycled PET (plastic bottles). I would have no problem buying shoes that reclaimed leather from old shoes instead of using new leather, for what it's worth.

They have a fun ad campaign running for this line, too:



Both shoes retail on Zappos for $194 - see each online by clicking on the images above.

The Timberland Earthkeepers Granby ($174) (pictured below) would also be flawless if not made from suede.


Now here's a cool winter boot from The North Face which is cruelty-free and made from recycled raw materials!

The Nuptse Knee High (pictured at right) retails for $170 at Zappos - http://www.zappos.com/the-north-face-womens-nuptse-knee-high-demitasse-brown-paisley-pastel-orange.

According to the site, the sole's are pretty high-tech, too:

"Durable TNF Winter Grip ™ rubber outsole with Ice Pick™ temperature-sensitive rubber snowflake lugs. Ice Pick™ rubber hardens when the temperature falls below freezing to provide ultimate biting traction".

Keep reading for more shoe finds later in the week!