The Vegan Food Blog

Buying shoes that are completely vegan can be a pretty stressful process. Walking into a store and asking for help finding a shoe that is vegan can result in very puzzled looks, and you walking out pretty frustrated. With that in mind, we’ve done the hard work below to try and outline where best to find vegan shoes, both from brands that exclusively stock vegan shoes (Or are known for their environment friendly company outlook), and from brand names that do their best to cater to vegans.

For vegan brands, I’ve simply scouted out the best places to find them online and from there, you can find a local stockist. But for larger brand names, we contacted them directly to see if they had any vegan options available. I used the exact email below when contacting them. Some gave straight answers, others never even replied at all, so a pretty wide range of responses. In terms of who actually offers vegan shoes, Mizuno, Dr Martens and Vans came out on top. With New Balance and Asics providing helpful responses too.

The email text :

Hello,

I am hoping that you can help me as I am looking into vegan options for footwear. Are you able to let me know if any of your shoes are made without using any sort of animal products in the process. This obviously includes things like leather, but also more subtle animal products such as glues or adhesives. If there are lines of shoes that are vegan apart from the use of glue, are you able to list these?

Thank you for your time.

Quick Links

Exclusive Vegan Brands

• Beyond Skin
• Bourgeois Boheme
• No Harm
• Pigeon Shoes
• Vegetarian Shoes

Brand Name Options

• Adidas
• Asics (V)
• Converse (VG)
• DC (NR)
• Dr Martens (V)
• Mizuno (V)
• New Balance (VG)
• Nike (NR)
• Puma
• Reebok (VG)
• Skechers (NR)
• Under Armour (NR)
• Vans (V)

Key : V = Vegan Options Available, VG = Vegan with the exception of Glue, NR = No Response

Exclusive Vegan Brands

Beyond Skin

Link : www.beyondskin.co.uk
Beyond are a 100% vegan shoe company out of the UK (But they do delivery worldwide, and free if the order is over 100 pounds!). Their main stock is dress or formal shoes made out of faux leather, suede, and even sheepskin (As their name suggests, Beyond “Skin”, get it!?!). While their range isn’t huge, there are lots of different types of shoes. e.g. You can find sandals, boots, high heels, dress shoes etc. Men’s shoes are non existant as of now at Beyond Skin, but they have promised that a mens collection is on it’s way!

Bourgeois Boheme

Link : www.bboheme.com
Bourgeois Boheme is a vegan shoe brand based out of the UK. They do mens and womens shoes, with styles ranging from heels, to boots, to flats. While there are a range of stylish casual shoes to choose from, the main stock is made up of business style vegan leather shoes. Prices start around £150 (which is about $220 – $230 USD), so it’s definitely on the more expensive style. Also comparatively expensive shipping (atleast when put up against some other options here). Because of those sorts of prices, it may not suit everyone, but they do have a large range so it’s atleast worth checking out. Especially if you live in the UK.

No Harm

Link : www.noharm.com
No Harm is another vegan shoe brand based out of the UK. They specialize in men’s shoes with a very “european” style slant. Think loafers, think moccasins, think pointed leather shoes. Prices can vary greatly from £100 – £200, but if you are after a particular look, this might be the place for you. No Harm also produce wallets and belts, but be prepared to shell out close to £100 for a wallet, and £60 for a belt…. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea!

Pigeon Shoes

Link : www.pigeon.shoes
Pigeon shoes is a mens only shoe/boot brand that is 100% vegan. The styles are business or classy shoes/boots made out of a fake leather looking material. There isn’t that much of a range (Usually only a handful in stock at one time), but what they do have look very very good. Prices are around $200 AUD (Which is about $140 – $150USD), which isn’t too bad for a quality shoe. Definitely comparable to a high end leather model. Shipping is also only $1 anywhere in the world, no minimum spend, no fine print, just $1 which is pretty incredible.

Vegetarian Shoes

Link : www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk
The grand daddy of all vegan shoes. It all started with a simple laceup shoe, and has now grown into one of, if not the biggest vegan shoe manufacturers in the world. The range is pretty incredible, mens and womens shoes, casual, businesswear, even hemp shoes! Almost all priced under £80 which is incredibly reasonable. Shipping can be slightly expensive depending on where in the world you are, but it does become pretty economical if you order more than 1 pair (Or a pair for the entire family). If you want to have the biggest selection of shoes, check these guys out!

Brand Name Options

Adidas

Contact Method : https://adidas-group-au.custhelp.com/app/nz/ask

Thank you for your inquiry, I have contacted all fields in relation to this inquiry and I can not confirm or deny that our products contain animal products in the glue, adhesive or material.

Apologise on not being able to answer your question directly

Asics

Contact Method : http://www.asics.co.nz/contact-us

The majority of our ASICs shoes are now leather free with the exception of the cross trainers, leather football boots and leather walking shoes. If you have questions about specific models please let me know.

In terms of the glues and other products we unfortunately do not have a current list of which products are/ are not 100% vegan but in the past it has only been the leather products that have not been vegan.

The same applies for our Onitsuka Tiger brand where there are many non-leather options which are vegan, again any questions on specific models please let me know.

Converse

Contact Method : https://converse.custhelp.com/app/ask (Live Chat link)

Unfortunately, we do not have any products that are certain to be Vegan-friendly. While the majority of our materials are animal-by-product free, the glue in our products can sometimes contain some animal by-products. In result, it is not possible for us to advertise our products as being truly Vegan.

And on the issue of shoes that may contain glue, but no other animal products :

Our Canvas shoes are the only ones that we can say is animal free.

DC

Contact Method : http://www.dcshoes-newzealand.co.nz/contacts/contacts
No Response

Dr Martens

Contact Method : http://www.drmartens.com/us/contactus

We do offer a vegan collection in an entirely synthetic microfiber. It is a non-leather material which is soft and supple, and has a subtle two-tone finish. Our new Vegan collection offers our two most definitive styles, the 1460 8-eye boot and 1461 3-eye shoe, replicating the originals down to the very last detail.

They have the original Dr. Martens air-cushioned sole, providing underfoot comfort and durability. It is oil- and fat-resistant, tough and offers good abrasion and slip resistance. This is a Goodyear-welted product. The upper and sole are sewn together, not merely glued, like many footwear constructions. This, together with our Z welt-stitch and heat-sealing process, makes it unique to Dr. Martens. Search for the word “vegan” on our retail website, www.drmartens.com/us, to see them!

Mizuno

Contact Method : http://mizunousa.custhelp.com/app/home

Hi,
Thank you for contacting Mizuno USA. All out running shoes are Vegan friendly! If you have any further questions, feel free to reply.
Best regards,

New Balance

Contact Method : http://www.newbalance.co.nz/on/demandware.store/Sites-newbalance_nz-Site/en_NZ/CustomerService-ContactUs

Thank you for contacting us. We currently do not offer a Vegan shoe, we do have quite a few that are not leather but we can not guarantee that all of the glues and adhesives used to hold all of the parts of the shoe together are not animal based free.

We had a Vegan shoe out about 5 years ago in the US but the cost of the shoe exceeded the number of shoes we actually sold so it’s been back to the drawing board. We are always trying to develop new styles that will provide all of our customers with the styles and choices they are wanting so hopefully we will be able to offer a new Vegan style soon.

On shoes that are without leather, but possibly containing glue.

Yes, there are about 3 dozen just in Running. It might be easier for me to tell you which ones do have leather, the 624, 857, 928, 812, some of the 574’s depending on the style, the 4040, 761, 959, 627, 968, 905 just for starters.

New Balance offers about 500-1,000 different styles, materials and colors unfortunately it would be impossible for me to list them all, go to the NZ or US New Balance site, all of the materials are listed in the description synthetic is a man made leather having no animal products in the base materials.

Nike

Contact Method : [email protected]
No Response

Puma

Contact Method : http://us.puma.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/CustomerService-ContactUs

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in Puma.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with a full and comprehensive list of all the materials included in the manufacturing of the product(s) you requested.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or email.
Sincerely,
Kobi

Reebok

Contact Method : [email protected]

Thank you for your email.

I cannot comment on adhesives used in our footwear as this will vary based on availability during the sourcing process.

However I can comment that a large number of our footwear style use a textile/rubber composition and thus no animal products in the upper.
An example of this is our CF Nano 4.0 and CF Lifter 2.0 not to be mistaken with the Lifter plus 2.0 which uses a leather vamp.

Skechers

Contact Method : http://www.skechers.com.au/contact-us.html
No Response

Under Armour

Contact Method : [email protected]
No Response

Vans

Contact Method : [email protected]

Many styles within our Classic Collection are Vegan-Friendly. Here are some examples:

Classic Authentic (Canvas Only)
Classic Era (Canvas Only)
Classic Slip-on (Canvas Only)
Classic Zapato Del Barco (Canvas Only)
Zapato Lo Pro (Canvas Only)
Classic 106 Vulc (Canvas Only)
KVD (Canvas Only)

Custom Slip-on, Era & 106 Vulcanized (the Custom Old Skool is NOT vegan)

Old Skool Vegan (only if it states Vegan)
Sk8-Hi (True White colorway Only)
Rowley 99’s – (Black/Synthetic Only) – Limited Edition

We may have additional styles available that would be Vegan-Friendly.

If you see we’ve missed your favourite shoe company, let us know and we will do our best to get in touch with them and get a solid answer for you! Just drop us a line in the comment section below.