Do you rival Imelda Marcos?

I don’t know about you, but whenever anyone mentions shoes to me, my inner Homer Simpson tend to reveal himself. Like Homer’s lionisation of Duff beer and doughnuts, so is my ardent worship of wonderful footwear. And I absolutely know I’m not alone. Shoes are a slightly different item of apparel to the rest of one’s wardrobe: they’re a necessity (I’d go as far as to ask Mr Maslow to cite shoes in his hierarchy of needs). Yeah, okay; 50+ pairs of shoes – ahem – might well be enough but I always could do with more… Nay: I NEED more!

Besides my boyfriend’s swivelling eyes, I’ve had flack off others too about my shoes. You see, I’m vegetarian and where vegetarianism’s a good subject for debate with bores at dinner parties, say, my vegetarianism is often challenged in relation to my choice to wear leather shoes.

I live in Brighton; land of veganism, dreadlocks and buses that run on bio fuel. Brighton is also home to an empire that you may or may not be familiar with: Vegetarian Shoes Ltd. Vegetarian Shoes, with it’s HQ in the quaint Lanes of the city, commands a vast business and provides thousands of ethically aware folk with their footwear. However, despite my meat-free diet and opinions on meat consumption (which, perhaps are slightly contradictory to what I’m about to prattle on about, are extreme), I have never bought shoes from Vegetarian Shoes. In fact, I’ve never really given shoes a second thought – that goes for price as well, much to my bank manager’s despair.

A good friend of mine is a shoe designer and maker, and is in the throes of setting up her own shoe business. Having graduated from Leicester University and fulfilled her initial round of experience within the designing industry in paid employment for a massive clothing empire (I’ll leave you speculating as to which one), Sasha Archer is an environmentally aware shoemaker. Sasha is also vegetarian.

But Sasha wears and works with leather. I asked her about this, and what she thinks of it all as a fellow veggie: “The thing is, the meat industry is there and it’s big. And as long as it’s there, there will always be tanners, pelts and leather. If leather is a by-product of the meat industry, I think it’s wasteful not to use it. After all, at least there’s some kind of love for part of an animal after it’s been slaughtered.”

Cute ankle boots from Vegetarian Shoes Ltd.

Like I say, controversial. However, Sasha is moving away from buying new leather and in it’s place favours old pieces, such as passé leather jackets. It’s not just second-hand leather she uses at that: all manner of workable materials, such as heavy flock from curtains and other durable fabrics are recycled and reborn to make Sasha’s shoes. Most notably, Sasha recently designed a to-die-for platform court shoe made from a reconstituted biker’s jacket, which flaunts the old-style sleeve tassels just above the heel of the shoe. The shoe went to Paris last month and quickly garnered an order for more from a big-gun buyer. Dismally, I’m not allowed to give too much away, but keep your eyes peeled, shoe lovers, and you may well be wearing it yourself soon.

Ethical clothes in general have seen a super-nova in the popularity stakes quite recently, and even more lately, shoes have followed suit. Where shoes made form recycled materials has only just caught on in the western world, in places like Africa and India, people have been using second-hand materials, such as old car tyres, for years. But it’s not all about recycling: it’s also about sourcing sustainable, ethical and environmentally sound materials to make footwear.

In his mission statement, the founder of Vegetarian Shoes Ltd, Robin Webb, explains how he discovered that a material usually used in yachting upholstery lent itself supremely as an alternative to leather: “It looked and felt like supple leather, but was ‘breathable’, unlike other plastics.” Green Shoes, based in Devon, prides itself on its use of ‘eco-tan’, soft leather created from environmentally friendly tanning products. But unlike Vegetarian Shoes, which, of course, use no leather whatsoever, the emphasis with Green Shoes is on, well, being green. Terra Plana, in Glastonbury, takes more or less the same approach. They might not be cheap because they’re not mass-produced, but it’s a small price to pay, really, for shoes that are in general hand-made and, moreover, well made.

Hetty Rose's pretty pumps

The Queen of sustainable shoes is Hetty Rose (also known as Henrietta Rose Samuels), a graduate of London’s acclaimed Cordwainer’s College at LCF. Having worked alongside Georgina Goodman as well as spending time in Italy, the Land of Shoes, Hetty certainly knows her stuff. Using pretty vintage fabrics (primarily sourced from sumptuous Japanese kimonos), she creates jewel-toned shoes to order. Not only will these beauties fit you perfectly, it’s unlikely that anyone else will be sporting a similar pair! Fellow Cordwainer’s graduate Elisalex Grunfeld de Castro’s retro-inspired label Nina Dolcetti is equally innovative and will have heads turning. Beyond Skin is another company stocking ethical and fashion-forward designs. Yes, they’re made using eco-friendly fabrics and recycled materials, but they don’t compromise on style in any way. From chic courts for work to on-trend ankle boots and sexy strappy sandals, they’re all highly desirable. Other notable eco-shoemakers include US designers Cri de Coeur, Olsenhaus and NEUAURA.

Of course the most famous veggie fashionista of them all has to be Stella McCartney. Admittedly her shoes come at a seriously vertiginous price, but they really are the prize stallions of the vegetarian shoe stable. McCartney refuses to use leather in her collections, and still manages to create shoes that Ms Moss and co hanker after. This season’s wear-em-if-you-dare thigh-high boots are currently a sold-out item in boutiques across Europe.

But where shoes – or anything for that matter – are concerned, it’s not necessarily all about the materials used. It’s about how they’re processed or sourced. For instance, I might be a hardcore vegetarian, but I don’t lambast others for eating meat. My problem with the meat industry is the ecological havoc it wreaks and environmental senselessness. By all means, tuck in to your Sunday roast, but think about where your leg of lamb has come from. Has it traveled miles? Is it organic? Was it mass-produced? The same goes, I guess for shoes and clothes. After all, weren’t we all up in arms about Primark’s sweat shops not so long ago?

But there’s a stale stigma associated with ethical wear: that the designs and range are staid and uninteresting. That may have been true some years ago, but a quick flick through the collections on the web proves this is not so. Who’d have thought an ethically inclined shoe manufacturer would think to make an awesome pair of Creepers? And not just any old Creepers: Creepers for women! Move over, inner Homer; my inner Johnny Rotten wants a piece of me! I’m off to pogo my soles out…