10 Ethical Footwear Brands

Woah, Vicki are you doing another ethical fashion round up even though the last one took you weeks to complete? I SURE FUCKING AM. I love doing these ethical footwear brands because I love sharing my favourite brands with all y’all. TYSM for all the love on the swimwear piece, you helped make it one of my most popular posts ever.

So here we are! Round two: footwear. In the last few years I have been investing more in footwear due to the fact that I want shoes that will last and because my feet are wide and flat so important footwear does wonders for my fallen arches. I tend to invest in higher-end pieces made of leather because they fit best and I find they last the longest. I don’t have every shoe on this list. But ideally (one purchase at a time) I can use this as reference the next time I decide to go shoe shopping.

​(Also I decided to do this as 10 brands instead of 20 like my swimwear one because that one took me an embarrassing long time to finish.)

I had to include Poppy Barley on my list first because I real have a soft spot for Alberta based shoe brand. A pair of Poppy Barley loafers (that are in serious need of replacement) were my first ethical footwear purchase 3+ years ago and they became an instant classic. The leather was soft while the sole was like walking on clouds, no break in time required! Founded by two sisters and partnering with family-owned factories in Mexico and Brazil, Poppy Barley is committed to ethical and well made shoes.

A certified B Corp, Allbirds is one of those footwear brands that sound too good to be true. Available in a wide range of colours, Allbirds shoes are a step above the rest. One of the things that make Allbirds so special is their use of a speciality wool fabric on all of their footwear. I know that it’s not my birthday anymore, but if someone wants to send me the Tree Skippers in White (size 7) they’ll receive unlimited high-fives because I have been lusting after this shoe for ages.

Designed and made in Canada with real Italian leather, La Canadienne uses materials that are designed to withstand a Canadian climate. All of their shoes have a 6 month guarantee and their leather are by-products of the food industry, animal hide that would have otherwise been discarded. Bonus: all of their boots from their cold weather collection comes with a memory foam sole!

Maguire Boutique promises high end shoes at a fair price. Maguire Boutique keeps their prices fair by doing limited runs and working directly with their factories that they meet with personally to ensure that factories adhere to their ethics and quality demands. I love how stylish all of their designs are and the bold colours available. I also love how when you click into the description of every pair of shoes they break down what the production cost is so you can see that they’ve managed to keep costs low while providing real suede and leather shoes.

Living lightly is the message Native Footwear aims to deliver. They offer ultra lightweight shoes for men, women, and kids and they’re always doing fun collaborations (currently they have a kids collab with Hello Kitty!) While they offer sandals, runners and even a plant-based shoe (made up of 100% plants) they are mostly associated their EVA offerings of hand washable shoes in a variety of colours.

Bonus: they aim to be 100% life cycled managed by 2023 meaning that soon you’ll be able to recycle your old pair as well!

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Mija Boots is a new brand from Instagram personality, blogger and woman behind MACCS the label, Tessa Garcia. While a Chelsea boot may not be a revolutionary silhouette there is something about the toe shape that gives these boots a feminine touch. I love that you can pick between a leather sole and a synthetic sole. Also, leather Chelsea boots under $200?! What a steal.

Let me first start off by saying that Stori is having a half off sale right now. So I highly recommend you get yourself a pair of premium huarache sandals. I found Stori via Kickstarter and actually help fund the brand before they had an official site. They are handmade in Mexico and each shoe has a personal touch with the signature of the person who made your shoes on the sole. I get so many compliments overtime I wear mine and cannot recommend them enough because I do think that they’re the perfect summer shoe.

I am starting to realize that this entire list is a list of aspirational purchases. If you live in Vancouver like I do, you’ve definitely walked by a Fluevog retail store more than a handful of times. Going into the Fluevog Shoes in Gastown feels a bit like going to the shoemakers version of Willy Wonka’s factory. Their styles comes in a wide range of colours, designs, lasts and even heel shapes. Just look at the toe on these black boots. I aspire to be the kind of woman that could pull off such a cool looking boot.

​My vision board is just a picture of those boots.

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If there was anyone’s closet I could raid it would be Mindy Kaling’s and these Brother Vellies style give me some serious Mindy vibes. In my mind I have events worthy of those yellow shoes I have pictured above. Like if Clueless was one pair of shoes, it would be that pair.

Their page as an entire section on sustainability and I love that the majority of their classic shoes are made using Kudo death, an animal byproduct resulting from a government mandated culling due to overpopulation.

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Vicki, are you really recommending a brand that is currently not selling shoes? Yep. I sure the fuck am. Vessi is currently taking a pause from ecomm sales because their products are so in demand that they want to make sure they give themselves a bit of breathing room to take care of existing customers while letting the production side of things catch up with the demand side of things. What makes these shoes so high in demand? Not only are they 100% vegan they are waterproof shoes. Not water resistant, waterproof – meaning your feet will stay dry no matter how many puddles you jump in. I have yet to get a pair of these cool kicks, but a few of my friends do and they swear by them.