vegan trainers

[skullandbones]

vans do a range of skate shoes which are prominently advertised as vegan-friendly (the only big co to do this to my knowledge)
check out all the vans models with rowley in their name. designed to be hard wearing and worn/endorsed by a vegan pro.
the shops i tried in the high street only do casual vans which are not vegan but skate shops should have them.

Not for 'running' specifically but the cool thing is that the first Rowley model, which is still available, is one of Vans best selling shoe models ever and they've been making shoes since the late 1960's.

Many others are synthetic but another name to look for would be Templeton who is sponsored by a shoe brand named Emerica. Unfortunately his latest shoe model has now been removed from their website and not stocked at too many places. I just hope he's not considered 'too old' or whatever because he's one of the best out there, on and off board.

[Alice1986]

Converse style shoes at the same price as regular ones. They are Fair Trade aswell and against sweat shops. Called 'no sweat' trainers. They look pretty cool

http://212.67.202.182/~fadetr/acatalog/Shoes2.html

[andyO]

Hi, I recently contacted all the running shoe manufacturers I could think of. Here's the responses I've had so far:

Saucony
----
This is a question we're asked relatively frequently, so we do have the answer supplied by our US parent company who are responsible for the design and manufacture of our shoes.

All of our technical running shoes are Animal Product free. The only exceptions to this are the styles in the Fitness range which are advertised as Full Grain Leather (sorry for stating the obvious).

Therefore the definitive statement is that none of our technical running range contain animal products or use any animal products in their manufacture.

We hope this information helps.

Kind regards
Saucony UK
----

Adidas
----
Due to the make up of certain glues and other materials used in the manufacturing of our footwear, we are unable to guarantee that none of the parts are from animal origin.

We are sorry that we are unable to be of further assistance on this occasion, but thank you for contacting adidas and your interest in the brand.

Yours sincerely

Lauren Cruse
Customer Care Manager
For and on behalf of adidas (UK) Limited
----

Brooks
----
Hi Andy. I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back to you sooner on your e-mail about our shoes having animal products in them. All our running shoes are made with synthetic leathers and do not have any animal based materials used in them. Our leather walking shoes would be the exception and have animal materials used.

I hope this answers your question and you can find the right shoe for you.

Thank you for considering Brooks for your next pair of running shoes.
----

[edited to include Brooks' response]

[scaught]

This was my response when I wrote New Balance UK

http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2998

it should also be stated that New Balance shoes you get in the US (they might export to other countries too?) are made in the US (in Maine about an hour north of portland), IE not the damn near slave labour like Nike and a lot of other brands.

[scoot81]

Here is what Puma said:

Dear PUMA Customer,

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in PUMA. The following styles are made of Synthetic material:

*Taper
*Red Planet Trail
*RPT II
*Mostro Ripstop
*Mostro Mesh
*K-1
*All of the Complete Running Shoes (ex: Complete Trailfox, Complete Taranis, etc.)
*Bashy
*Ballistic
*Alpine Trail Racer
*ILO
*3000M
*El Rey

If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us directly at 888-565-PUMA Monday through Friday 8:30am-6:30pm EST.

Best Regards,

Eloa
PUMA.com Customer Service

[virago]

I bought my New Balance running trainers from http://www.ethicalwares.com/
and they're lovely. Super light comfy running trainer and really well put together. No rubbing or blisters so far, and no swetashops either.

For casual trainers I go here: http://www.thenaturalshoestore.com/ (click the vegan link) and get Komodo;'s Hempies. Super comfy and made from recyled materials.

[gibby]

vegan trainers, walking boots & shoes & bags

www.alternativesoles.com
do a great range and the prices are really cheap

G

[fredrikw]

why do you post a link to a very sketchy looking web shop as if you were just a customer, when your www-link in your profile points to the same web site? it's hard not to believe this isn't just a scam...

[gibby]

if you check my profile - I do promote a veggie site - alternativesouls - a veggie site thats been up for ages & I do help out on there

one of the other members has alternative soles
similar name but not the same

the payment I made was through paypal - if you need verifiaction

G

[vincentpace]

All Nike+ shoes are apparently vegan. See Nike's response to my query below.

Response (Christian) - 11/27/2006 11:17 AM
Dear Vincent,

Thank you for contacting Nike regarding the material content of our Nike + footwear.

None of our Nike + footwear products contain animal by-products. All of these models will be made from synthetic materials.

Thank you again for contacting us.

Sincerely,

Christian
Nike +

Customer (Vincent) - 11/25/2006 12:38 AM
I am interested in buying a pair of Nike+ shoes. Could you please let me know which Nike+ shoes have animal products (e.g., leather, suede, glues of animal origin, etc.) in them? Thank you.

[toyzykid]

i have been vegan for ten years and ran into a few shoes that are vegan

i just found out that some circa's are vegan i know the cracked are i just got a pair and they fit so good

[spike]

Well, despite this thread, I didn't do my research properly and inadvertantly bought not one but TWO pairs of leather trainers yesterday as they guy in the shop lied that they weren't made of leather
I don't know if he made a genuine mistake or was totally bullshitting me, but he sounded like he knew what he was on about; He said that one pair was "definitely vegan" and the other "wasn't made of leather but the glue couldn't be guarunteed vegan".
It wasn't until I got them home I discovered they were made of dead things
Its a shame cos they were really nice and comfy
I have a feeling they will try to fob me off with a credit note but I'm gonna do my best to get my money back. Will report back later..

[october_lost]

Spike you have your statutory (sp?) rights to take them back, but you can order a cheap pair, or if your in manchester dont the basement sell vegan trainers/shoes?

[spike]

hi October_lost.
I got a refund, a guy who appeared to be the manager was there and gave me my money back without too much fuss. He apologised and said the guy who saerved me had messed up "cos he's ginger and the girl working was irish"

the basement don't do "proper trainers", do they? I thought they just had those black spot ones?

I traipsed round town all day on monday and found nothing vegan that I liked, not even had any joy online- that veganskateshoes.whatever fdoesn't seem to work any more.

I really want to avoid leather shoes, but I have to say if I don't find something soon I'll be very tempted

[fredrikw]

when I researched this a couple of years ago all proper running shoes were synthetic, so unless it's a very particular style you want that shouldn't be a problem I guess.