It is a good thing to know if your shoes are vegan, whether you are simply curious or a fan of ethical fashion, or a hard-core vegan consumer. Yet, many people are ignorant about the concept of vegan. They associate vegan mostly with dietary habits, while the reality is that vegan applies to a wide range of products from apparel to shoes.
What Are Vegan Shoes?
Vegan shoes are those that are created sans any animal products. The latter include down, leather, silk, fur, and wool. Because of vegan consumers, markets for alternatives like synthetic materials are witnessing substantial growth.
Thus, there is a demand for vegan shoes that look casual or professional. Vegan shoes for women even strive to meet fashion standards for casual and social events.
Vegan shoes create a lower carbon footprint compared to ordinary shoes. They meet the needs of consumers who care about their environmental impact. Above all, they suit consumers who wish to practice compassion for animals and wish to stop the exploitation of the latter.
What To Look Out For?
In case you desire completely vegan shoes, they should be made of synthetic or man-made materials. Synthetic materials should be used by vegan shoe-makers for the inner soles, the tongues, inside linings, and the tabs. When you are shopping for vegan shoes, you must rule out any animal-derived products in their construction. For instance, shoe parts are often glued together. Several kinds of glue include animal-based products like gelatine, casein etc. Even canvas sneakers may feature an inner suede patch or animal-derived glue.
How To Identify Vegan?
It may have escaped your notice, but many shoes carry special symbols on them. Such symbols indicate the kind of material used in the shoe. For instance, there are symbols to indicate the use of leather or coated leather. For textiles, the symbol is in the form of a square of woven thread. This symbol indicates the use of cotton or other vegan materials. It is free of animal-based products.
A symbol of a diamond indicates that manufacturers used rubber, PVC, or Faux leather. If it indicates the words-‘man made’, this implies a lack of using animal skin. At times, the symbol of a diamond refers only to the outer sole. In such a case, there is a need to do some further research into the materials of shoes. You need to check out symbols found in shoes, such as vegan running shoes for women online.
The Case Of Suede
The word Suede is associated with the napped and soft surface of leather. It is intrinsically animal skin derived from lambs, pigs, goats, sheep, calves, and cattle. Certain specialty leathers include those made of skins of snakes, alligators, ostriches, bison, crocodiles, elephants, kangaroos, zebras etc. Thus, Suede simply does not qualify as a vegan.
The Case Of Vegan Leather
Leather alternatives like faux leather are created without using any skins of animals. Plant materials and plastics create a suede or leather appearance. This offers a vegan-friendly, sustainable alternative to leather.
The Case Of Rubber
Natural rubber is derived from latex, a white milky fluid found in rubber-producing plants. This rubber is flexible and durable and is used to create over 40,000 products. The rubber is used to create the outer soles of shoes as well as other parts. The rubber from shoes can be recycled for making new products, including new shoes. Rubber is surely vegan as it does not contain any animal-based products.
In sum, these are the top ways to identify if your shoes are vegan. If you wish to be sure, check out the website of shoemakers. Most vegan shoe producers will indicate on their site whether they are 100% vegan. Green Sole products from www.greensole.com are some examples.