How To Know If Shoes Are Vegan
Vegan shoes are the ones that are made without the use of any animal parts or products. A major benefit of wearing vegan shoes is the guarantee you get that there were no animals slaughtered or harmed to make the nice pair of shoes you are wearing. Although there are few specialty stores that are dedicated to selling vegan footwear lines only, you may purchase vegan shoes from almost anywhere. The only thing you should learn is how to know if shoes are vegan or not. Here at OneHowTo.com, we are trying to tell you how to identify vegan shoes from others.
Contents
Do a physical examination of the shoes
Inspect the outside of the shoe by looking at the heel, tongue, laces, tabs and the branding. Next, examine the inside, including its material, patch and sole. Even if it is a pair of canvas shoes, it may contain a leather inside which can ruin your mission to go 100% vegan.
To identify real leather, take a look if there are any pores in the material, and smell for that characteristic odor that leather produces. If it has pores and smells like leather, it probably is.
Look at the tags
Many times, the shoe will contain a label or handy sticker on the tongue, insole or heel, displaying a pictorial presentation of the used materials. Most importantly, check for the symbol of ‘leather’, which looks like the hide of an animal splayed out. Synthetic of textile material is fine, even if it looks more like leather. This means that it is synthetic, only if it is not mis-labeled. Avoid any materials labeled as coated leather, fur, suede or leather.
Instead, go for shoes that are made of rubber, PVC, fabric, polyurethane or any other man-made material. Sometimes, you may come across a name termed as ‘kid leather’, which you may believe to be a synthetic material, but know that it is made up of baby cows which are cut from the womb of their mothers.
The brands
Find the shoe brands in your country, and know which ones have vegan options in their product lines. Although it is not easy to list out all the vegan friendly shoe brands, but you can know that brands like Club Monaco, Nine West, Banana Republic, J. Crew and Madewell never offer vegan options. Most shoes from Aldo have a synthetic upper, but have leather lining inside. Some brands that you can check out for vegan options include Steve Madden, Old Navy, Gap, Anne Klein and Aerosoles. Some internationally recognized brands have vegan shoe lines that have great style and are environment friendly too.
Call the company and ask
There is nothing better than asking the company itself, which will give you most reliable information on making your purchase. Send a quick email to the company’s customer service center, and mention that you are looking for a pair of shoes that do not contain any animal products, including the glues used for making the shoes. If the company is really reliable, it will have good customer service, and will be glad to respond to your query very soon. Most of the times, you can completely rely on this response from the company itself.
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