Don’t Feel Guilty About Your Fetish
Date: February 20, 2009 | Category: Fashion, Shoes
One of the toughest things about going green has been suppressing my passion for gorgeous footwear. Usually shoes touted as vegan are made from PVC or other un-sustainable/toxic materials. When Mink’s founder Rebecca started in 2000, it was nearly impossible to find a factory in Italy who would even entertain the idea of making vegan shoes, but finally she unearthed a family-run business open to working with her - they even helped her to create a natural rubber glue that, to their surprise, turned out to be more durable than the conventional animal-based glues.
Now, Rebecca’s delighted to see ethical shoe-ware on the rise. But even as others jump on the eco-shoe bandwagon, MINK stands apart with a collection of hot kicks. Some with vintage fabric, some with natural materials such as cork and rubber as well as organic cotton and organic linen that are dyed with soy-based inks. Even the shoebox was created without adhesives and even doubles as a bag to eliminate the wasteful practice of putting a box into a bag - a concept I think every designer should latch on to!
Comments
ggop
Date: September 27th, 2007 at 8:52 am
The flat shoes actually look comfortable (my feet hurt in those pointy shoes and wedges!)
Thanks for the pointer!
Melisser
Date: September 29th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I love this! As a vegan who works in the fashion industry, I have found it difficult to find fashionable vegan goods. Of course, there’s Matt & Nat for handbags, but many of the shoes are lacking. This gives me hope!
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