Best Vegan Shoes

Be it in the name of the environment, fears about animal cruelty, health reasons or a mix of all three, more and more people are eliminating animal products from their diet and lifestyle.

When considering going vegan, most people’s first thoughts turn to food, but there’s more to it than that. Namely, you’re going to need to reassess your makeup bag and wardrobe.

Leather, suede, wool, silk, mohair, cashmere are all no-gos. Ditto real fur and crocodile skin, obviously, but who wears those in 2019 anyway? Crucially, you also need to pay attention to the adhesives used on bags and shoes, as many types of glue are made from collagen taken from hooves and bones.

Whether you live a cruelty-free lifestyle or want to make a few small changes with the planet in mind, vegan shoe brands are a great place to start in the wardrobe department. Going beyond cool sneakers and gladiator sandals (brands like Birkenstock and Vans have been making vegan styles for years), myriad labels are popping up and delivering on non-granola styles.

Susi Studio

Susi Studio is a Los Angeles­-based lifestyle company that aims to promote conscious living. Think vegan footwear for the modern woman. Susi's focus is to inspire compassion towards humanity, animals, and the environment through creativity. We have made it my mission to make sustainable footwear both accessible and stylish.

They work with factories in Portugal and Hong Kong. The artisans they work with take immense pride in their work and have passed down their trade over generations. Their Hong Kong factory is owned and operated entirely by women. Bianca, the founder, visits both factories regularly and has formed friendships with them, as well.

They spent nearly a year looking for the right partners and have a specific compliance audit to evaluate factors like fair wages, reasonable hours, and the environment. It is of utmost importance to them to create a company that is true to its values.

Veerah

Inspired by the strength, beauty, and confidence of today’s mega-tasking women, Stacey Chang founded VEERAH to complement the fast-paced demands of today’s modern-day warriors. After years of research and criss-crossing Europe and Asia in search of the right manufacturing partners that understood her vision to create a cruelty-free line, Stacey launched VEERAH in 2016.

Staying true to her personal values, she committed to the idea that one does not have to hurt any life for the sake of beauty and that sustainability and luxury can co-exist when you combine smart sourcing and thoughtful design. From its inception, the DNA of VEERAH was to create a versatile collection based on the founding principle: DO GOOD + LOOK INCREDIBLE.

Each day the appreciation she hears from clients around the world for designing beautiful shoes "that also happen to be vegan” fuels her commitment to make sustainable fashion the standard and not the latest trend.

Rafa

Rafa – a luxe and eco-friendly footwear label is built on three main principles: it’s made in Los Angeles; it’s vegan; it’s sustainable. Founder and creative director Taghrid Zorob had two things in mind when starting out: she wanted to create beautiful things that are good for both people and the environment, and she wanted to make timeless shoes that you can wear today, in five, ten or 25 years, and that will remain relevant and in good shape over this time.

Almost all Rafa shoes are made-to-order and handmade in a small factory located on the outskirts of Los Angeles by a group of about 20 artisans, many of whom are second or third-generation shoemakers. The process starts with Taghrid making a drawing of what she wants the shoe to look like from the top, sides, and bottom. Then the last get made by hand, and the shoe itself is crafted from ultra suede – a textile that is engineered out of 80% recycled fibers coming from things like old PET bottles. The heel is crafted from reclaimed wood that is hand-cut and sanded to the right width and shape before being covered with the same textile as the rest of the shoe.