Shoe Thursday: The eco-friendly edition

Since seeing the story in EpiscopalLife Online about the installation of the Canon for Environmental Ministry in the Diocese of California (California, but of course), I've been wondering what type of shoes we can wear to help save the environment.

Of course, please don't confuse my mind with any info on how these shoes are manufactured or shipped or boxed or advertized or anything else about the resources consumed in creating this most excellent example of caring for our Planet - that might impinge on my intense feelings of satisfaction that I am being such a wonderful steward of Mother Earth!

So, from the most excellent shopping site for shoes on the web, Zappos.com, we can actually search for "women's eco-friendly shoes" and see what's available.

This one is billed as GT Jane from Simple. Its eco-friendly attributes, according to the Zappos write-up, include:

• Woven Jute rand


• Organic Cotton upper


• Bamboo linings


• Coconut button


• Removable natural latex pedbed with a cotton canvas cover. Natural crepe rubber midsole.


• Uses water based cements


• Yes, that outsole is made of an actual car tire

Sounds like a most worthy candidate for Eco-friendly Shoe of the Year. The car tire outsole is an excellent touch.

Next, from JT-41, a shoe called Aquarius-Vegan, so of course, no leather materials or animal products are used in construction. Other items of note are:

• The Age of "Aquarius" is upon us with this stylish, 100% vegan slip-on shoe that impresses with its sleek design and incredible comfortability.


• Features removable Jeep® Memory Foam footbed for maximum comfort (I don't know, this sounds a little too petroleum-based to me)


• Eco-friendly partially recycled rubber outsole (but no mention if these are actual car tires or not)


• Upper: 100% vegan-friendly synthetic textile uppers

This shoe offers the double benefit of being both environmentally sound (Vegan) but also spiritually sound (Aquarius) - it's a twofer! (Although I am highly suspicious of that "memory foam footbed" - I keep thinking "off-shore drilling.")

For something a little more outdoorsy, I took a look at this Toetally boot by Simple - eco-claims include:

• Give Mother Nature a big hug purely by wearing Toetally


• Stylish and earth friendly boot made of organic cotton/linen, printed wool and printed felt uppers


• Bamboo linings add unique elements


• Jute laces add natural flair


• Removable natural latex pedbed with cotton canvas cover (huh, no memory foam here!)


• Natural crepe rubber midsole is fashionable and environmentally friendly


• Water based cements


• 100% post consumer paper pulp foot forms (ah, so even their packaging is eco-friendly!)

But what if the eco-friendly girl wants to dress up a little, maybe go to an eco-charity event, to see and be seen by those most concerned with combating eco-concerns? Most eco-friendly shoes seem to be a little (how shall I say it?) "woodsy" in appearance.

Never fear, Zappos knows all and shows all. On the eco-friendly display page, I also found this shoe (the only dressy one on the whole page), the black satin Marlene by Annie. And its eco-attributes are listed as:

• This sophisticated dress slide features a criss-cross vamp.


• Jeweled detailing in the satin upper


• Lightly padded footbed for comfort


• 3" Lucite heel

What a minute, none of these points sound particularly "eco-friendly." The 3" Lucite heel sounds positively dangerous! Lucite, that's plastic! And plastic is anathema to any eco-friendly consumer - I think this shoe is a ringer! But, wouldn't you know, the one shoe that's actually somewhat stylish isn't even eligible for consideration.

Why must everything so worthy always be so serious?