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Don’t Feel Guilty About Your Fetish

Contributed By: ecofabulous

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!